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14 February 2012
STATEMENT BY MR LINO BISINELLA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BISINELLA DEVELOPMENTS
Bisinella Developments has issued proceedings in the Supreme Court against the Minister for Planning, Matthew Guy MLC, in relation to the Minister’s decision late last year to refuse to approve amendment C73 to the Greater Geelong Planning Scheme.
The company has no comment in relation to the specific matters raised in the writ and statement of claim lodged with the court.
We can say, however, that we are very disappointed it has become necessary to take this action to defend our rights and protect our business.
Bisinella Developments has been in the business of residential and industrial development in the City of Greater Geelong for 45 years, generating investment and jobs for the region over this period. We also have a long history of major investment in developing and supporting our local community.
Over the past nine years, the company acted in good faith and followed the correct planning process in relation to amendment C73, which would have rezoned land at Caddys Road, Lara, for a new residential estate.
The company has experienced very long delays and incurred significant costs. We invested heavily in the planning process because we believed in the planning merits of our proposal.
We had good reason to believe in the planning merits of our proposal. It has been considered and endorsed by independent experts, by the Greater Geelong City Council, and by two independent panels appointed to consider the merits of the proposal. The Department of Sustainability and Environment and Parks Victoria (which manages nearby Serendip Sanctuary) did not object to the proposal, which included a buffer and other measures to protect the sanctuary.
Indeed, only a few months before the Minister decided to refuse to approve amendment C73, the Minister approved an amendment which included a new structure plan for Lara which specifically endorsed the concept of developing our land. The structure plan approved by the Minister shows our proposed residential estate inside Lara’s “consolidation boundary” and specifically designates our land for conventional residential development as part of a rational growth strategy for the town.
The Minister's decision on 29 November 2011 was deeply disappointing.
We believe the Minister’s decision was contrary to the orderly planning of Lara, the proven planning merits of our proposal, and his own decision, only a few months earlier, to approve the Lara Structure Plan in a form which specifically included our land in an area for conventional residential development.
We are challenging the Minister’s decision on the basis that in making the decision to reject C73:
- the Minister failed to take into account relevant considerations;
- the Minister took into account irrelevant considerations; and
- the Minister's decision was so unreasonable that no Minister acting reasonably could have refused to approve the proposal.
MEDIA INQUIRIES:
David Withington
Corporate Affairs Manager
Bisinella Developments Phone (03) 5274 1643
1st December 2011
MEDIA STATEMENT BY RICHARD BISINELLA, DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, L.BISINELLA DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD
PLANNING MINISTER’S (MATTHEW GUY MP) DECISION TO ABANDON PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C73 – CADDYS ROAD, LARA
We are shocked and outraged at this decision.
It’s a blatant corruption of the planning system.
The integrity of the planning system has been sacrificed on the altar of short term politics.
Let’s get one thing straight: the Minister’s decision is not about protecting Serendip Sanctuary. There is not, and never has been, credible evidence of any threat to Serendip Sanctuary from this development proposal. And the proposal clearly ticks every box in planning policy terms.
This is a purely political decision designed to counter recent media commentary that the Minister has been making too many decisions in favour of developers with the right political connections at the expense of community groups.
The Minister has flown in the face of the outcomes of a nine year planning process just so that he can say he has made a decision in favour of a community protest group.
The Minister has even contradicted himself: just a few months ago he approved a linked planning scheme amendment, the Lara Structure Plan, and now he has made a decision that is inconsistent with that plan.
The incompetence and cynicism apparent in this decision is an absolute disgrace.
We will be taking every legal avenue available to us to fight the Minister’s decision and expose his sham planning process.
The whole development industry should be very nervous about what’s been done to L.Bisinella Developments.
You can spend nine years and millions of dollars stuck in the planning process; your proposal can be strongly supported by all the experts and two separate independent planning panels; you can successfully make your case to the local planning authority; but you’re still at risk of being gazumped at the whim of a politically motivated Minister.
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The Sanctuary Views Estate is subject to a rezoning application (Amendment C73) that has been approved by Geelong City Council and is awaiting final approval by the Minister for Planning, the Hon Matthew Guy MLC.
The rezoning has been strongly supported in two reports by Independent Planning Panels (2007 and 2010).
Both panel reports found no substance in claims by objectors, including the Township of Lara Care Group (TLC Group Inc), that the estate posed a risk to Serendip Sanctuary. Some of these claims, and the facts, are summarised here:
Expert evidence by one of Victoria’s most respected botanists - considered by the second panel along with earlier expert reports (including the 2006 Wood report to Parks Victoria) – is summarised here:
Various measures have been recommended and adopted to minimise any potential impacts on the sanctuary and its wildlife, including a landscaped buffer between the estate and Windermere Road (the southern edge of the sanctuary).
Council voted in April to approve Amendments C73 and C198 (the Lara Structure Plan).
The final step in the planning process is to forward the Amendments to the Minister for approval, along with a signed agreement between Council and L.Bisinella Developments Pty Ltd for associated infrastructure works and development contributions (to be used for community projects in Lara, including a new library).
For more information or to register you name for this estate please phone our office on (03) 5274 1643.
Other documents:
Click to download the Independent Panel Report for the Lara Structure Plan and the Caddys Road Rezoning
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