Aged-care site setback
A $21 MILLION aged-care facility in Geelong’s north has been set back at least 12 months after City of Greater Geelong engineers spent 18 months considering the facility’s stormwater management.
Victorian Croatian Aged Care Services secured a permit to build the 100-bed Bell Park facility last August and were expecting to welcome their first residents in July this year.
VCACS chairman Joe Pavlovic said the council’s engineering services department had been “most unhelpful” and reneged on their promise to help VCACS establish the facility.
He said the delays and the conditions of the permit for the facility had so far cost VCACS between $350,000 and $500,000.
“They are saying that there is an issue because it’s a flood area but there has never been an issue of a flood,” he said.
“There was a school there for 35 years and there was never any problems.
“The council have not given us any help which was promised to us.”
Mr Pavlovic said the council’s engineering services had finally stamped the architectural and landscape plans for the facility on January 4, but the council’s conditions for the plans were “horrendous and costly”.
“Without the stamped plans we couldn’t sign the contract with the builders or get a bank loan,” he said.
The city’s planning and development director Gareth Smith said since issuing the permit, the council’s engineering team had been working with VCACS and its consultant engineering team to satisfy the requirements of the permit.
“Council endorsed the planning drawings on 21 December 2017 and works can commence subject to the developer’s building permit,” he said.
The council did not explain its concerns about the project or what had caused the delay.
VCACS signed a 65-year lease for the $2 million former Western Heights Secondary School land in 2014.
Mr Pavlovic said VCACS had been forced to fight to retain the land because the coun- cil delays meant the service could not meet its obligations for the State Government deal.
“We nearly lost the project because we didn’t meet the State Government’s land lease agreement at the right time and had to extend it twice,” he said.
Mr Pavlovic said the council was also requesting VCACS to pay more than $80,000 for the establishment of a nature strip at the Barton St site.
“It’s put the project in jeopardy,” he said. “We’re already over budget and with all these conditions we would have to compromise the comfort of the facility for the elderly.”
However, Mr Smith said the condition was consistent with the council engineering’s standards and community expectations.
Mr Pavlovic said people had shown interest in putting their names down for the facility, but he was unable to accept applications for rooms because he had no way of knowing when the facility would open.