By Melissa Meehan
CARDINIA Council has backflipped on a decision to refuse subdivision of the land at the controversial Pink Hill hotel site.
In October the council refused an application for the subdivision of the land into five lots with five grounds of refusal.
In his report to councillors, council officer Brett Jackson said the application was subsequently appealed to VCAT, and has been awaiting a hearing, which has been adjourned on a number of occasions.
The hearing is now scheduled to be heard over five days starting on 1 August.
This hearing also relates to the proposed development of the Pink Hill Hotel on the site.
As a result of work being undertaken separately by both the applicant and the council while preparing for the hearing it was identified that the alignment of the proposed road through the site was a major consideration. This needed to be resolved first as it would help the council in the development of the Officer Precinct Structure Plan (OPSP), and would also assist the applicant in understanding what issues they would have to deal with in relation to the proposed hotel.
Before the most recently adjourned hearing, the council, the applicant, and Melbourne Water were requested to attend a mediation organised by the Growth Areas Authority (GAA), with a view of resolving some of the issues around the road alignment.
As a result of this mediation, the council agreed to undertake a thorough assessment of both the applicant’s proposed road alignment, and the road alignment the council was seeking through the OPSP.
This assessment was undertaken giving consideration to both planning and engineering factors, and the outcome of this was that the alignment proposed by the applicant would provide the council with a significantly better outcome for the OPSP.
The draft OPSP has subsequently been amended to show this alignment.
“In addition to this work the applicant has prepared an amended subdivision plan in the aim of overcoming the council’s grounds of refusal,” the report said.
“As a result of the road alignment work and the amended subdivision plan, it is now recommended that Council no longer pursue its ground of refusal for this subdivision application.”
Councillor Brett Owen said at first he was worried the council was pandering to the developer but said this was definitely not the case.
“I’m satisfied that this is a good outcome,” he said.
“But this has no bearing on council’s decision to refuse the hotel.
“We will make sure Pink Hill doesn’t go ahead.”
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