It's back to the drawing board for Greater Shepparton City Council as it voted to delay the adoption of the 2050 Shepparton and Mooroopna Regional City Growth Plan.
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Council staff will have six months of community consultation before coming back to council.
It is the second meeting in a row in which council has voted to delay adopting the 2050 plan.
After a passionate debate, councillors Shelley Sutton, Bruce Giovanetti, Les Oroszvary, Kim O'Keeffe, Fern Summer and deputy mayor Dinny Adem voted to delay the plan.
Cr Chris Hazelman, Cr Dennis Patterson and Mayor Seema Abdullah voted to adopt the plan.
The decison to delay the 2050 plan follows continued discussions about the zoning of land east of Doyles Rd, Shepparton.
Residents have voiced concerns Greater Shepparton City Council has ignored landholders’ requests not to zone land east of Doyles Rd as agricultural on the 2050 Shepparton and Mooroopna Growth Plan.
Cr Dinny Adem said it was common for people to be disappointed with outcomes but in this case residents had a valid grievance with council.
“In this instance the exclusion of parts of Shepparton East from any form of development in the 2050 growth plan seems illogical and contrary to a structured and sequential growth of Shepparton,” Cr Adem said.
“Issues such as poor drainage don't seem insurmountable as nearly all new developments require some form of drainage mitigation.
“... Greater Shepparton continues to hug the shoulders of the Goulburn Valley Hwy with seemingly little consideration to distancing its residents from not only the CBD but now distancing itself from the single largest school project in Shepparton's history.”
The first to speak against the motion was Cr Sutton, who said the council had been informed that in delaying the 2050 plan the Victorian Planning Authority and other government departments could walk away from the plan.
However, Cr Sutton said she couldn't understand why that scenario would happen.
“We're still working with the 2030 plan and it was stated there's plenty of land for the next 15 years, so why the rush?" she said.
“I've been told that this isn't the time to make fundamental changes to the document. It would be a planning scheme amendment hearing, but my information is this would only allow for minor changes.”
Cr Sutton said she was not satisfied with the community consultation for the 2050 plan, and opportunities had been missed.
Cr Hazelman said there had been a process of discussion between council, planners and consultants over a "good two years" and he was concerned with the implications of deferring the plan.
“I think we do run a real risk of our partner the Victorian Planning Authority walking away,” he said.
“But potentially also ... chairman Stuart Morris QC making a direct approach to the government for the minister to call this in and take this away from us.
``That has happened with other councils.”
Cr Hazelman said by opening up further consultation council was not being fair with the community.
“The notion we're going to another consultation process with a narrow and select group really opens up the question of procedural fairness,” he said.
“You cannot provide to one section what you can't provide to all.
“If we're talking about diverging significantly away from the plan, we bring back into play all the statutory partners we have here: Goulburn-Murray Water, catchment management authority, who have given this plan today a tick.”
Cr Summer said the plan didn't reflect on the super-school or council's climate emergency declaration.
She said it was not urgent to adopt the document.
Cr Patterson said the 2050 plan was a living document and the council must set the perimeter right.
He said even if council did vote through the 2050 plan it was still in its early stages and further planning changes could be made before it would be properly implemented.
Cr Bruce Giovanetti said the council did good community consultation "but in this case we probably haven't".
Cr Oroszvary said he had to be satisfied with the plan before he could vote in its favour.
Cr O'Keeffe said her concern was around the super-school and its links to north Shepparton's growth.
“We're looking at this incredible growth across our region ... what does that mean?" she said.
“Hopefully it means will people use this education facility and want to perhaps live closer to it; historically that's what people want to do.”
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