Council votes on decision that will shape Port Fairy 'for generations'

The amendment implements the Port Fairy Coastal and Structure Plan 2018, which sets out the areas in and around Port Fairy that can be developed in future and the types of development that can occur.

It will be perhaps the key factor determining what Port Fairy looks like in 2050.

"This is going to have such significant impacts on the town of Port Fairy, and not only for the immediate future, but for generations to come," Cr James Purcell said.

Cr Purcell voted against sending the amendment straight to the planning panel, arguing more input was required from council.

"I think we need to be very careful of not delegating our authority as councillors," he said.

While Cr Purcell congratulated council officers on the five-year process that had brought the plan to its current state, he said it should only be sent to a planning panel when all efforts to resolve the concerns raised by stakeholders had been exhausted.

Council received 128 submissions from locals, planning experts and government organisations over two separate public consultation periods in mid-2020 and early-2022.

Cr Purcell asked council director of economic development and planning Brett Davis whether all avenues had been explored to resolve the submissions.

"I don't believe we have exhausted all our efforts to resolve the issues. I think there is a lot of work council and all of us need to do before (it goes to a planning panel)," Cr Purcell said.

Mr Davis said there had been "ongoing discussions with a majority of the major people who have submitted today".

"When you get to a point where there isn't going to be resolution, that informs the decision to refer it to a panel," he said.

One of the most contentious and consequential issues addressed in 69moyn was the prospect of future flooding in the low-lying coastal town.

During the first round of public consultation on the amendment in 2020, the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority made a submission to the council raising questions about the flood modelling underpinning the plan.

This forced council to put the amendment on hold while it commissioned new modelling and created new flood and inundation overlays for Port Fairy.

The new modelling, based on an assumption of 1.2m sea level rise in the next 80 years, increased the amount of land around the town that was at risk of flooding by 2100, including many pre-existing properties and large areas of land earmarked for residential development.

Dozens of the submissions to the amendment were sent in by locals whose planned developments would be thwarted by the new flood and inundation overlays.

A lawyer for one developer also presented to Tuesday's meeting saying they planned to review the soundness of the modelling in an attempt to overturn the new overlays.

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In its submission, the Glenelg Hopkins CMA emphasised the importance of conservative flood planning, saying the alternative risked having to soon rewrite the planning scheme again at great cost, or worse, allow houses to be built in flood-prone areas.

Cr Jordan Lockett while land supply was a critical issue for Port Fairy, that didn't justify risky planning.

"If we have catastrophic flooding in Port Fairy where houses are literally thrown down the rivers, it won't be 1.2m we're talking about, it will probably be 2.8 or something like we are seeing in Queensland at the moment," he said.

"This is a very important document; it could save houses and lives and livelihoods."

While most of the C69moyn amendment was recommended to be passed on to the panel, two parts were abandoned: a parking overlay for central Port Fairy, and an Environmental Significance Overlay that aimed to create a 500m "buffer zone" prohibiting development around the Wannon Water sewage plant.

Sun Pharma had also written a submission arguing for a 500m buffer around its Port Fairy pharmaceuticals plant, with council saying it would work with the company to develop appropriate planning protections.

But the issue became a headache for council after a submission from the Environment Protection Authority Victoria indicated the council hadn't provided any information to justify a buffer zone for the Wannon Water plant.

The submission said council was statutorily required to seek EPA advice on the matter, but that EPA could not provide any advice on the required buffer zone because council hadn't provided any relevant information.

"EPA considers it necessary for the amendment to provide adequate justification regarding the application of the ESO, the area of land this is intended to apply to and EPA's role as a determining referral authority in order for EPA to fully assess the amendment," the letter said.

The EPA letter also said the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning was developing a new Buffer Area Overlay that may be "a more appropriate planning tool" for council to use.

In response, it appears council opted to drop the question of buffer zones from the amendment.

Crs Purcell and Doukas both expressed concerns about the lack of councillor oversight over the report that the director of economic development and planning will send to the planning panel, which will contain council's official position on each aspect of the amendment and the 128 submissions.

Planning experts who presented to Tuesday's meeting agreed, saying it gave the director a lot of power.

Cr Doukas proposed a motion allowing councillors to see any changes to the report before it was presented to the planning panel, but the motion never went to a vote.

The vote to pass the amendment to a planning panel passed three votes to two.

Crs Damian Gleeson and Karen Foster recused themselves from the discussion and vote, citing a conflict of interest.

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