The company which owns Gateway Plaza believes a proposal by Warrnambool City Council will have a negative impact on its operation.
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The council is seeking to change its planning scheme to guide future development in the city's east.
However, Moelis Australia has reservations about the proposed changes to the Warrnambool Eastern Activity Centre Structure Plan (August 2016).
Sean McArdle, speaking on behalf of the company, said the council's own retail strategy emphasised the role of Gateway Plaza as the city's secondary retail centre.
However, he said the proposal failed to utilise the strengths of the existing activity centre, with a mixed zone allowing for further small-scale development on a new 'main street'.
Chris De Silva, who prepared a report for the council on the proposal, said there was no plan to create a second retail hub.
He said the mixed zone would allow for the inclusion of "fine grain" commercial operations and housing.
A panel considering submissions on the proposed amendment was presented with a report by Moelis.
"New development should be linked to the retail core of Gateway Plaza and environs," BDMA Development Advisory principal Bernard McNamara wrote in his report.
"In contrast, the structure plan proposes a secondary level connection between Gateway Plaza and the new urban core to be situated some 250 metres to the east."
Mr McNamara said the proposed "urban core" to the east only had "tenuous links to Gateway Plaza and Gateway Road".
In addition to this, he questioned the location of a car parking circulation road.
"If applied, this private circulation road will run through the approved buildings for stage two expansion and separate any future retail expansion for the existing shopping centre."
In the report, Mr McNamara also questions whether such a large secondary centre within Warrnambool is warranted.
"The 124 hectares of land identified as the Eastern Activity Centre is of a similar size to the existing city centres of Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong," he said.
"As a secondary centre, the scale of commercial and residential development identified in the structure plan appears to have no connection with any reasonable expectations for the land."
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