GrainCorp expansion tick of approval
In a tense exchange between Moira Shire councillors, staff and members of the public gallery, a planning permit for a multi-million dollar expansion at GrainCorp’s Benalla Road site was approved unanimously at the ordinary meeting last Wednesday.
An officer report for determination recommended council approve the planning permit including a grain elevator, two silos and a road hopper for the Benalla Road site, subject to 17 conditions; these works would culminate in the bulk of the unloading and loading of grain to be conducted at the Benalla Road site and not within the township of Yarrawonga in Pearce Street which is the current practice.
At the start of the council meeting, prior to the allotted discussion time for the GrainCorp item, Cr Kevin Bourke moved a motion for a petition, signed by more than 150 people objecting to the application, to be brought forward and “tabled”.
“The contents of the petition can be considered along with the GrainCorp motion,” Cr Bourke said.
“Very briefly I would like to thank the participants in this petition and it is only appropriate we consider this with tonight’s agenda.”
Cr Peter Mansfield presented the petition to Mayor Gary Cleveland.
Cr Ed Cox moved the motion to approve the GrainCorp planning application and indicated
a further clause to the 17 already listed should be added to the recommendation, namely “the rail out loading facility is to comply with NIRV guideline” with the “prepositioning of grain into the rail out loading facility to take place within the hours of operation specified in Clause 12”. Cr Kevin Bourke seconded the motion. Clause 12 of the recommendation refered to the hours of operation at the GrainCorp site - one of the contentious issues discussed during a mediation meeting held last month between GrainCorp, residents and shire officers - namely Monday to Saturday 6am until 8pm; Sunday (Grain Harvest Season) 8am until 7pm; Sunday (non-Grain Harvest Season) 9am until 6pm; and Christmas Day no use permitted.
“For the purposes of this condition, Grain Harvest Season means the period from the first day of November to the last day of February in the next year,” the report submitted to council and endorsed by CEO Mark Henderson said.
Cr Cox said having a development like the GrainCorp site within Moira Shire was critical for the shire’s survival.
“When we get a proposal on our doorstep like this we can say yes or no but if we say no then an opportunity is lost,” he said.
“This is a much bigger project than just for the township of Yarrawonga.
“I know there is a common anxiety and I fully respect it however as council we have no control over the rail timetable.
“I fully support this application, we are here to do business.”
Cr Kevin Bourke said councillors very much realised the concerns raised by neighbouring residents.
“I believe with the adjustment to conditions we are addressing those concerns,” Cr Bourke said.
“I have an apprehension if we were to mess about with this we have Deniliquin close by, there could be the possibility we could miss out terribly.
“The noise I believe we have covered the vast majority of the concerns raised.
“I would hate to see this application fall over and then for many years put up with grain trucks carting up and down the highway. “We have to grab the bull by the horns.” Cr Peter Mansfield said he personally went to GrainCorp’s CBD (Pearce Street) loading facility to see the work in person.
“The days of excess dust and noise are over and the facilities GrainCorp are putting in will be amenable,” Cr Mansfield said.
“As much as I understand the petition regarding this facility we should be a ‘can do’ organisation.”
Cr Peter Lawless said this application highlighted the need for council to “take the community with us”.
“We need to work more on this aspect in the future,” he said.
“When a project is in an area with other interests we need to take care on how we do it.
“The extra conditions will address the objectors’ issues.
“This is a wake-up call for us to ensure GrainCorp’s operating restrictions are adhered to and we should be quite strict on those.
“I want to assure residents we will keep a close eye and vigorously enforce those restrictions.
“Some things we just have to get on with but it shouldn’t be at the expense of getting around regulations.”
The recommendation was passed unanimously; directly after the vote a member of the public gallery voiced her disgust at the decision and walked out of the meeting saying “you have no idea what we live with”.
During the public question period, Yarrawonga resident Lee Harman expressed his disappointment with council’s decision and questioned the consultation process used by councillors and staff.
“You say you listen to residents,” Mr Harman said.
“We had a meeting with you and we were told we would get the minutes back from that meeting but we have had no feedback.
“We have begged you to come to our backyard to see what we go through.
“Why haven’t you got back to us, where has been your consultation?” “Every day we are on the phone to you. “You have made a decision based on your facts and not on our facts.”
CEO Mark Henderson approved a report submitted to council which said an original application included the construction of a new siding that would have resulted in the removal of native vegetation and therefore triggered a public notice to be issued under Section 52 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987.
The report went onto say on February 14 GrainCorp lodged an official amendment to the application that omitted the railway siding and resultant removal of native vegetation.
“It should be noted that as no trees are to be removed there is now no trigger for a permit for any use, buildings or works within the rail reserve,” the report said.
“The buildings and works are over 30m from a residential zone and the application is therefore exempt from notice and review.
“This means that there is no right for the public to object to the application or to appeal any resultant decision to VCAT.”
In response to Mr Harman’s question, Mr Henderson said councillors had been made aware of all aspects of the objections.
“However, council’s decision is binding and not subject to appeal,” he said.
“Council does acknowledge it doesn’t make everyone happy.”
Mr Henderson spoke with the Chronicle after the meeting saying the local law that governs council meeting procedure was designed to regulate how meetings were conducted and decisions reached.
“It’s always open to the council as elected representatives to form their own view on an officer’s recommendation and to either adopt it, vary it or decide something quite different,” Mr Henderson said.
“There’s no requirement to give public notice of what a councillor may be proposing to move on an item in the agenda.
“In this particular case councillors were clearly aware of the existing location of rail loading at the town silos being surrounded by residential development with thousands of truck movements throughout the year.
“Relocation of the rail loading to an alternate industrial site off a main road that is already well established for grain handling and not surrounded by residential but has rural living on one end achieves a better land use outcome.
“Trains of course wait for no one and the economics of efficient rail freight dictate that business needs to be able to load the train when it arrives with appropriate noise controls.
“Without that the economies of rail freight are lost and savings not passed onto our farmers.”
Official spokesperson for GrainCorp Luke O’Donnell told the Chronicle last month GrainCorp was excited with the proposed multi-million-dollar investment into Yarrawonga.
“By building a state-of-the-art train loading facility out of town we will remove up to 3,000 truck movements from the Yarrawonga CBD,” Mr O’Donnell said. “We will be taking the trains that currently load in the CBD area of Yarrawonga and put them onto our site, which means there will be less noise, dust and considerably less trucks in the centre of town.
“Every additional train we can load due to efficiency gains removes up to 75 trucks from Victorian roads.
“GrainCorp is committed to Yarrawonga, the town sits on a train line that connects directly to Geelong Port which enables us to export Yarrawonga grain to the world.”