By JESSE GRAHAM
HEALESVILLE’S controversial sawmill site application could be approved by Yarra Ranges Council before its VCAT hearing, with restrictions on the site, following a meeting between council and the developer.
On Friday 10 June, the Yarra Ranges Council posted an urgent business item on its website for its Tuesday 14 June meeting regarding the sawmill site at 17-25 Maroondah Highway, Healesville.
An application for a large development on the site is scheduled for a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing on 11 July, following a rejection by the council.
The proposed development included hotel rooms, convenience restaurants, a petrol station and an epicurean centre, but the council argued against the proposal due to the site’s zoning.
The item recommends that council authorise CEO Glenn Patterson to “do all things necessary and appropriate to resolve” the application, following a meeting between the council and the developer on 1 June.
The council officer’s report said that a “without prejudice” offer was made by the applicant to remove the larger of the two convenience restaurants on the site, and to agree to a Section 173 on the land which would prohibit gaming at the hotel.
The Section 173 would also restrict the site to only having one convenience restaurant, and the applicant also offered to agree to not allow a McDonald’s restaurant on the site.
The officers wrote that the agreement presented “a prime opportunity to remove an undesirable component of the development”, in terms of the convenience restaurant, but questioned the possibility of locking out McDonald’s.
“There is concern around the appropriateness of targeting a specific franchise in this manner and should council wish to proceed in this fashion it is recommended that legal advice be sought on this,” they wrote.
“This would however prevent any future application to amend the smaller premises to accommodate a larger franchise like McDonald’s.”
The applicant also offered to change the built-form of the development.
The matter will be discussed at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
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More as it comes.
