Port Fairy subdivision to test council planning rules

Four of the proposed residential lots are squarely within the council's Land Subject to Inundation Overlay (LSIO), with one site also pushing into the Floodway Overlay (FO).

The developer plans to dig out sections from the northern half of the 1.28 hectare site to build up the land on its southern edge, where four potential dwellings would be built, in a process known as "cut and fill".

The developer suggested the cut and fill process would "mitigate flooding and inundation concerns", but neighbouring resident Paul Dwyer said the plans didn't allay his concerns.

Mr Dwyer has made a formal objection to the proposal, saying the land, which is bounded by Reedy Creek on its northern edge, was never supposed to be developed.

"The advertisements when the allotments in Perry Close were sold said it was always going to be undeveloped land," Mr Dwyer said.

"I'm not happy with it. I think it will lead to another block further up and they'll fill up the whole street."

Moyne Shire's planning scheme "strongly discourage(s) the filling of land which is liable to flooding unless balanced cut and fill can be achieved" as per Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority (GHCMA) guidelines.

In a letter to the developer, GHCMA waterway planning manager Peter Robertson said the authority could "support the proposed cut and fill plan" as long as the finished floor height of any houses built on the proposed lots was at least 4.86 metres above sea level (AHD). That would put the floor height nearly a metre above street level on Perry Close.

While the support of the GHCMA is crucial to the success of the application, it still faces obstacles in the council planning scheme, which seeks to "maintain the integrity of the existing urban floodways by preventing development in floodway areas".

The council is also about to receive the state planning panel report on its C69 planning scheme amendment, which will update the guidelines for development on flood-prone land in Port Fairy, potentially tightening the rules even further. The report is due on Friday, December 23.