A SPECIAL planning panel will adjudicate in a clash between three property owners and Warrnambool City Council over proposed heritage listings of their homes.
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Councillors voted 6-1 this week to add 53 properties to the city’s extensive heritage planning protection overlay and to request Planning Minister Richard Wynne to appoint a panel to consider submissions on the issue.
The panel is expected to sit in Warrnambool during the last week in April at a cost of about $30,000.
Owners of 3 Liebig Street, 60 Jukes Street and 16 King Street have protested over proposed listing as recommended by the council’s heritage adviser and council officers as worthy of protection for cultural value.
The Liebig Street property, Colern, sits adjacent to the recently-demolished former Sandilands guesthouse, which had heritage protection until a previous city council team voted against a planning panel recommendation to retain the protection.
Colern owner Lesley Skewes has argued the heritage listing was largely linked to its association with Sandilands.
Town planner, Brendan Howard, wrote a submission to the council on Mrs Skewes’ behalf arguing that if a multi-storey development proposed for the Sandilands site proceeded it would potentially cause significant overshadowing, loss of residential amenity and possible devaluation to 3 Liebig Street.
The Jukes Street listing has been opposed by 86-year-old Joy Ramsay, who argued it would be harder for her to sell her home with heritage restrictions. “The house was built by my husband in 1960 (not 1860) and I am still living in it and contrary to your report is not in excellent condition,” she wrote.
Brendan Gleeson has protested the King Street listing, saying the house had a number of extensions and did not have the original garden as stated in the report.
Cr Rob Askew was the sole supporter for the objectors and called for a further report by council planning officers.