College pushes ahead with Spring Creek plans
GEELONG Christian College is pressing ahead with plans for a new ‘‘kinder to year 9’’ school near Torquay in the controversial Spring Creek area.
In an unusual move, the school has taken out a fullpage advertisement in today’s Geelong Advertiser.
In the advertisement, the school is quick to point out that there will be no residential development allowed on the site.
The school has applied to Surf Coast Council for the land to be rezoned to ‘‘special use’’, which does not allow any residential development.
A spokesman for Surf Coast Shire said the rezoning would be decided by the new council after this month’s council elections, with the current council now in caretaker mode.
The school said it bought the land, on the corridor of land to the west of Duffield’s Rd, about five years ago.
The 15ha would house a new campus for up to 600 students.
In its full-page advertisement, the school said the new campus would have positive impacts on the area, including: GIVING 600 Surf Coast students a further choice of education; SPENDING $ 60 million in the local community; PROVIDING assets for shared community use; TAKING hundreds of cars and buses off roads between Geelong and Torquay; and SHOWCASING the first sixstar green- rated school in the state.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy cleared the way for restricted residential development in Spring Creek last year, saying it should be capped at 1800 houses. The original plans had called for a 6000-lot development.
But confusion remains as to the extent of any development. The State Government is yet to sign off on an amendment that would see urban growth in Spring Creek outlawed.
Mr Guy said in July last year that they planned for fewer than 1800 homes on the Spring Creek site.
But the shire has called for the land to remain rural.
Christian College hopes to have the new campus operational by as early as 2015.