Council moves compromise for Goulburn's Belmont Estate

Ashley Yeadon, acting on behalf of his parents, is not pacified by a council decision on Tuesday, aimed at resolving the dilemma.

“Realistically, we are still looking at eight months or more before we can build a house,” he said.

Mr Yeadon was speaking about the Belmont Estate subdivision off Lansdowne Street, near the former Drive-In site. His parents and other buyers into a 17-lot subdivision only discovered recently that the land was still zoned B6 Enterprise Corridor, not RU5 residential. It meant they could not build homes, despite buying on that pretext.

Council general manager Warwick Bennett has blamed conveyancers and builders for their ‘ill advice.’ But Mr Yeadon still has questions about the council’s role in the site’s complex development application history.

The meeting heard that planners struck out existing use rights to build a home on the blocks in a 2017 DA modification. It had previously been recognised despite a redefinition of the B6 zone in 2012 expressly prohibiting homes.

“What legal right did the council have to strike out existing use?” he asked.

Mr Yeadon said he was seeking legal advice on this point.

He addressed councillors in open forum, telling them the delay had caused financial and emotional stress for his parents. His father was in a wheelchair and needed a more accessible home.

“A quick resolution is required,” he said.

Mr Yeadon cited the site’s development application history, reiterating planners’ advisory notes in 2012 and again with a 2016 modification that existing use rights applied to houses in the subdivision’s B6 zone.

But environment and planning director Scott Martin said the council had subsequently discovered these advisory notes carried no legal weight and were “incorrectly applied.” In order to make good, the planning proposal was started in 2016.

After the meeting, Mr Yeadon told The Post that councillors’ decision went some way to resolving the stalemate. On Tuesday, they endorsed a planning proposal for the site that would see 17 internal lots zoned residential. Once endorsed by the Department of Planning, which Mr Bennett said could happen by April, buyers could submit DAs for homes.

Councillors deferred a decision on rezoning an outer block fronting Lansdowne and Robinson Streets from B6 to residential, as the developer wanted.

This was to resolve land use “conflict” with industrial businesses in the area. Several owners, including Peter Granger of Grangers Freightlines, spoke during open forum.

Mr Granger said he objected due to residents’ potential complaints about truck movements and noise in the busy area. Further, they wanted a road access into the subdivision from Lansdowne Street shifted for safety reasons.

“We understand the situation you’re in but we need to co-exist,” he said to buyers.

“You didn’t create it and neither did we. We’re just trying to survive.”

Mr Granger was happy with the council resolution, which also imposed higher construction standards to mitigate noise and other complaints.

“That’s what we argued for from the start,” he said after the meeting.

His was one of eight public submissions on the planning proposal but his concerns went back several years when housing was first suggested for the subdivision.

Submitters said complaints from nearby residents stretched back 20 years and some business owners and employees had been verbally abused. They did not want legal action or violence to result.

Councillors also supported a minimum lot size of 1000 square metres in the residential zone.  

The council will also ask the developer to consider moving the estate access off Lansdowne Street and rely on Cathcart and Robinson Street entrances. This is to avoid vehicular conflict with trucks frequenting the area.

Mr Bennett told the meeting that he and Mayor Bob Kirk were pushing for the planning proposal to be processed quickly to allow buyers to submit DAs to build homes. 

Deputy Mayor Peter Walker asked that planners look at these DAs before submission to ensure they’re ready to be processed as soon as the Department gives the go ahead. This was to avoid further delay for people.

He earlier argued councillors should have been told of any changes that eliminated existing use rights.

“I understand the hardship and all I can do is apologise for the delays. (But) this at least gives us something where everyone is happy and the area is developed better,” he said.

Mayor Bob Kirk also told the meeting the series of events was not ideal.

“And that’s an understatement,” he said.

Herb Schuster is developing the land with business partner, Bruce Makim.

He did not wish to comment in detail at this stage on Tuesday’s decision but said he had done nothing wrong.

“We’ve dealt with the land over 30 years and paid rates and land tax,” he said.

“The council has inspected every move we’ve made with and there’s never been a question that it wasn’t zoned the right way.”

Mr Schuster thanked those people who had contacted him. 

Cr Sam Rowland, a solicitor, declared a pecuniary interest in the matter as his legal firm were representing people affected by the rezoning. He left the room during the item’s discussion.

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