In Officer, it’s houses in and businesses out

By Melissa Meehan
SURBURBAN sprawl has blocked a local winery’s plans to expand – as it does not comply with the Officer Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) currently being prepared by the Cardinia Council.
D’Angelo Estate Vineyard, an existing winery located in Bayview Road, Officer, proposed that they use their existing land for a restaurant and tasting room, associated with the winery.
But council planning officers found the application was not consistent with the strategic vision for the site and surrounding area.
In their report, officers said factors such as noise and traffic created by restaurant patronage would impact on future residences.
Council staff name these draft plans according to letters of the alphabet.The council is currently on their ‘W’ version of the plan.
At Monday night’s council meeting, an alternate motion to approve the application with restrictions, tabled by councillor Brett Owen was lost, and the motion to refuse the application was successful.
Councillor Owen voiced his disgust at the decision to refuse the application for an existing business because of a plan not yet in place.
“This is an existing ratepayer, who has been in the area for 11 years who wants to enhance his business,” Cr Owen said.
“I highlight there were no objections – none from the adjoining school, or developer of nearby future residential estates.
“Council should not be in the business of driving local businesses out.”
Councillor Collin Ross, who did not vote for the alternate motion offered by Cr Owen, agreed with his fellow councillor.
“I believe that it (the proposed restaurant and tasting room) would fit into the landscape,” Cr Ross said.
“The owner is only looking to expand and make a commercial ‘go’ of his business so that he can stay there for the rest of his life.”
Cr Owen said the Officer PSP had been going on for years, and it was still unclear when it would finally be approved.
“The plan is to fill Officer with houses and drive business out,” Cr Owen said.
“It is disappointing.”
Councillor Ed Chatwin supported the motion to refuse the application.
“One of the major problems is that it comes into conflict with our PSP and roads in that area,” Cr Chatwin said.
“I have sympathy, but the area we are talking about is residential and to go against this very important structural plan that we’ve been working on for years – it would not be right.”
The Urban Growth Zone, which applies to the site in question has been implemented to manage the transition of non-urban land into urban land in accordance with a precinct sructure plan.
After the vote, a split was called with councillors Chatwin, Legge, Moore and Halligan voting to refuse the application.
All three Central Ward councillors, (Owen, Ross and Blenkhorn) voted against the refusal.
Officer is part of the Central Ward.