Commitment to town’s character
Developers of a $145.6 million residential estate in Yarragon have vowed to work with the community to maintain the rural character of the town and the site’s farming heritage.
The 304 lot subdivision proposal in Yarragon-Leongatha Rd has been on public exhibition as part of a planning scheme amendment to have the land rezoned.
Land development consultants Millar Merrigan submitted the application on behalf of local developer Robato.
Baw Baw Shire Council last week confirmed it had received 20 submissions relating to the amendment and planning proposal. A report will be presented to council next month when officers are expected to recommend council refer the matter to an independent planning panel for decision.
Co-director and representative of the Robato owners Dale Cook said they did not want to impact on the village feel of Yarragon.
Mr Cook said Waterloo 3823 was a $145.6 million investment in Yarragon, which economic analysis forecast would deliver a $12.8 million per year boost to the Yarragon economy.
“The biggest part of what we are doing is we don’t want to impact on the village feel. We believe the village will be better used with this development.
“This is about residential blocks, we don’t want to impact on or take away from the village feel. Some people say more people will do that but that’s growth and we can’t stop that.
“We sold 78 lots last year, they ran out the door. There is demand to live in Yarragon,” he said.
Unlike the 2020 service station development proposed on the western boundary of the town, Mr Cook said they understood the importance of engaging with the community.
Mr Cook said an open door approach to community feedback had been important to them. “They love this town for its art, culture and community, and these are all things I want to preserve.”
“I have been surprised by the push-back but not alarmed. We are already making changes to respond to community input such as orientation of blocks and resetting some roads,” he said.
Recognising drainage and flooding was a concern for any development in Yarragon, Mr Cook said Robato had been pro-active in implementing long term flood mitigation measures.
He said flood retention works already in place on the site were “future proofing” the town.
“It makes sense to do that work now. We’ve put a lot of work into drainage. We have put in a retention system that is working now, it’s redirecting the water and stopping the water from hitting the highway now. The town is already benefiting from that.
“Reducing the flooding risk was an obvious one that we knew had to be part of our proposal,” he said.
Mr Cook said they also had met with environmental sustainability groups, leading to development of Waterloo 3823’s sustainability strategy, “which applies best practice environmental guidelines, protects heritage trees and demonstrates a commitment to repopulating native flora.”
Mr Cook said the residential development of their Yarragon-Leongatha Rd property was identified in the town’s strategic plan completed eight years ago.
The new precinct builds on the first stage of Waterloo 3823, with stage one including 30 titled lots, stage two including 28 titled lots and stage three including nine lots that were sold late last year within 24 hours of being titled.
“People want to move there, the demand is there,” Mr Cook said.