"Hooray."
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With this word, Ararat Rural City Councillor Peter Beales summed up the feeling of his elected colleagues, as the council resolved to progress a plan to build 160 new homes in Ararat's east.
The proposal will now be reviewed by Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne.
At its meeting on Tuesday night, councillors considered whether to prepare a development plan for the Ararat East Development Area. At the same time, they were asked to write to the state government to amend the planning scheme for the area.
A letter to the council from Beveridge Williams, development consultant representing Green Hill Lake Estate, said the amendment was needed to avoid "future lots... burdened by two zones". "Realigning this boundary will create a logical planning outcome," the letter read.
The site in question is known as Green Hill Lake Estate, which comprises 75 of the 161 hectares in the AEDA.
Chief executive Dr Tim Harrison said it was "an exciting" development "16 years in the making".
"It's good to see that towards the end of its term, the council can make this happen. Eighteen months ago we identified an area in the zone for housing plus other uses," he said.
"This proposal provides the opportunity for the Green Hill Lake Estate to finally commence work, to create 160 new housing lots, which we do need. In Ararat at the moment, there are currently only four or five houses on the market in town. This would be very beneficial in bridging that gap.
"It also provides us with an opportunity to resolve the Ararat East Development zone further. The council had a commitment to develop the Heath Street rail intersection: We've contributed $200,000 and the state government $500,000 to that project, so we've worked to solve an access problem at that location, but now what we're really going to do is commence some planning work.
"(These) are two things we need to do to make that happen."
Dr Harrison said Green Hill Lake Estate's developers were keen to start work as soon as possible, and that they should do all in their power as council officers to drive the process forward as quickly as they could.
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Councillor Bernardine Atkinson asked Dr Harrison if there were adequate protections for cultural and environmental values in the area proposed for development. Dr Harrison said the cultural heritage assessment was undertaken in 2016 and signed off on by Traditional Owners, and that it remained current.
Cr Atkinson also asked about the 550-metre distance between the estate and land zoned industrial, and if the council had considered creating a buffer zone. Dr Harrison said even the most industrial use of land would require a maximum 500-metre buffer.
The motion was moved by Cr Beales and seconded by Councillor Bill Braithwaite.
Cr Beales said: "This has been going on for 15 years and has stagnated because of infrastructure issues that were so expensive it would diminish any return on this property.
"This is not the end of the process: There will be an independent panel appointed, planning experts will speak to people. Speaking recently to a real estate agent, this is the best pricing you can get for housing in Ararat, and people from Melbourne have fairly rose-coloured glasses about what country life is like.
"Eventually, there will be a cohort that will want to come out here because of the lifestyle. But if people forget what it is like now, Melbourne will still be very popular. By the time this gets online, it ill be the peak time when people will say 'I will build there, I will buy there'.
"This project is the panacea for unemployment problems. But it will create jobs during construction: It's not the be all and end all, but it's a bloody good start."
Cr Faye Hull supported Cr Beales' view, saying her friend had recently sold her house to a Melburnian.
Cr Gwenda Allgood paid tribute to the late Peter Daman, a former member of the Green Hill Lake Development Board, in supporting the motion.
The motion carried unanimously.
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