BATTLE OF THE BAYSIDE
GrainCorp vows fight after city clears way for seven-storey office building
GRAINCORP says it will appeal after a council committee backed the Hamilton Group’s plan to convert the former Powerhouse in North Geelong into a seven-storey office building.
The marathon meeting heard nearby port users, including GrainCorp, feared the development would jeopardise the future of the area.
GEELONG’S port users last night lost their battle to stop a seven-storey office building going ahead on a disused waterfront site in North Geelong.
In a marathon planning committee meeting, the Geelong council last night backed the Hamilton Group’s plans to convert the former Powerhouse in Mackey St which abuts the southern fringe of the port precinct.
However GrainCorp, which has a terminal at the bottom of the street, has already flagged appealing the decision to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The plan was passed on a 7-2 vote of the nine-member planning committee which heard objections from GrainCorp, Barrett Burston Malting, the Victorian Regional Channels Authority and the Geelong Manufacturing Council.
The meeting heard the size of the offices, at more than 12,000 square metres, would set a precedent for an Industrial 1 zoned site in Geelong.
The objectors raised concerns including: THAT the council was not taking into consideration the projected future growth of the port; THAT increased visibility of dust at GrainCorp would lead to complaints despite operating within EPA limits; SAFETY concerns with increased traffic on a street with high-frequency truck movement; THAT future investment in the port would be put at risk; and IT would lessen the appropriate buffer zone around port operations.
GrainCorp’s southern senior manager Craig Cochrane said the development would impact negatively on its operation which was dependent on running 24/7.
“(The problems) don’t happen at the start, it happens a few years down the track,” he said. “People in there start to complain about the truck noise on Sundays, then they don’t like it at night.”
However, urban planner Tufan Chakir, for the Hamilton Group, said the objectors simply did not want to see more people in the area.
“The site is not earmarked for port-related purposes,” Mr Chakir said.
“It is not required by the port, it is not required by anybody else.”
He said the port had not looked at purchasing the site to protect it from encroachment.
“It’s a derelict site (and) this is a suitable good use of building.”
The meeting heard that the office would create a suitable buffer between the industrial uses at the port and the residential zoning on the site’s other flank.
It was told the office would also add to the emerging business precinct at Federal Mills Park, which was also devel- oped by the Hamilton Group.
The council officer recommendations, with a change to proposed limits on sight lines into port operations, were passed 7-2 with councillors Jim Mason and David Aitken voting against.