VCAT rejects plans for home on Coolart Rd, Tuerong green-wedge block
A COUPLE is devastated after a shock VCAT decision banned them from building their dream home on their peninsula property.
The couple wanted to build a single-level house, swimming pool and machinery shed, as well as produce hay and plant a fruit orchard for farmgate sales on their green-wedge Tuerong property.
But the tribunal found there was not enough of a “nexus” between farm production and the need for a dwelling — and ruled against the planned permit from Mornington Peninsula Shire.
Luke Chant and Leisa Hutson, who live in Mt Martha and bought the Coolart Rd property eight years ago, said they had simply wanted to give their three young children a rural life.
“We’re gutted — our seven-year-old keeps asking when we can move to the farm,” Mr Chant said.
Mr Chant and Ms Hutson, whose property is part of the old ‘Coolart Rising’ subdivision, were not even parties in this month’s complex case.
The case went to VCAT after David Proctor, a retired planning consultant, objected to the council’s plan to issue a permit.
Mr Proctor also lives in Coolart Rd — but his green-wedge land already included a house when he moved in more than 20 years ago.
He argued the building of the couple’s house, pool and shed would convert the land from green wedge zone to ‘rural residential’ and would erode planning controls in the shire.
Mr Proctor, who has objected to planning applications for other Coolart Rising properties in the past, also claimed it would remove agricultural land.
In his finding, tribunal member Graeme David said the land management plan for the couple’s property lacked substance and failed to meet green-wedge requirements, which were designed to curb urban growth in designated areas.
He disagreed with council’s argument that he should approve the permit because Coolart Rising had “effectively emerged as a rural living domain”.
“If the council wishes for the local area to become a rural living ‘enclave’ it has the option of seeking to amend the planning scheme,” he said.
Mr David also noted that VCAT could not be influenced by statements from real estate agents during marketing campaigns.
Mr Chant said they were not sure of their next step — but they certainly did not have the money to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“I put everything I own into the property,” he said.
“I could put in a totally new land management plan but I have no way of stopping (another) objection — it’s a vicious circle.”
The shire’s executive manager of planning services, David Bergin, said council would not seek a review of VCAT’s ruling as there was no question of law.
Mr Proctor declined to comment on the decision.