Drysdale Aldi on Geelong Council meeting agenda for 13 April

The follow is extracted from the City of Greater Geelong Council Agenda for 13 April 2010:

SUBMISSION TO MINISTERIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PROPOSED ALDI SUPERMARKETS - C125 GEELONG WEST, C200 HIGHTON & C208 DRYSDALE

Portfolio: Planning – Cr Katos - Source: Economic Development, Planning & Tourism – Strategic Implementation - Act/General Manager: Terry Demeo

Index Reference: Subject: Council Reports 2009 - Project: C125 – Reports Council & Other

Summary

• The purpose of this report is to advise Council with regard to a number of amendment proposals for ALDI supermarkets in Highton, Drysdale and Geelong West, and recommend that Council make a submission to the Advisory Committee appointed by the Minister for Planning supporting these amendments.
• On 22 February 2010, DPCD wrote to Council advising that the Minister for Planning had decided to appoint a separate Advisory Committee, under Section 151 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to provide advice in relation to the ALDI proposals in Highton, Drysdale and Geelong West. This means that while Council is able to make a submission to the Advisory Committee regarding these proposals, the Advisory Committee will assess the applications and the Minister for Planning will make the decision regarding their approval.
• Amendment C200 is the proposed ALDI supermarket development at South Valley Road, Highton. On 22 September 2009, Council resolved to support the preparation and exhibition of this amendment and planning permit.
• Amendment C208 is the proposed ALDI supermarket development at Murradoc Road, Drysdale. On 13 October 2009 Council resolved to support the preparation and exhibition of this amendment and planning permit.
• Amendment C125 is the proposed ALDI supermarket development at the corner of Shannon Avenue and Albert Street, Geelong West. Council has not previously considered a report on this proposal as the Geelong West site application was submitted directly to the Minister for Planning. See Appendix 4-3 for location of C125 site and existing zoning and Appendix 4-4 for Aerial Image of proposed Geelong West site.
• With regard to amendment C125, Council has recently resolved to apply an interim Heritage Overlay to the site (via Amendment C195), which is part of the Ashby Heritage Review area.
• Given that the Advisory Committee Terms of Reference state that “in relation to the Geelong West site, the Advisory Committee must provide an assessment of the heritage value of the site”, it is recommended that Council provide ‘in principle’ support for the Geelong West proposal, on the understanding that the Advisory Committee will make a thorough assessment of the application against the proposed interim heritage controls.

It is therefore recommended that Council make a submission to the Advisory Committee supporting the amendments, subject to conditions, and that Council request the Committee to assess the Geelong West application (C125) against the proposed heritage controls and the Ashby Heritage Review.

Recommendation:

That Council make a submission to the Advisory Committee on the proposed ALDI developments as follows:

a) support development of the proposed ALDI at Highton (Amendment C200),subject to the comments contained in this report.

b) support development of the proposed ALDI at Drysdale (Amendment C208),subject to the comments contained in this report.

c) support development of the proposed ALDI at Geelong West (Amendment C125), subject to the comments contained in this report, and request that the Advisory Committee assess the application against the proposed interim heritage controls and the Ashby Heritage Review.

Extract from the Report about Aldi in Drysdale:

On 11 August 2009 Urbis, on behalf of ALDI Stores, submitted an application for the rezoning of land at 20-22 and 24-26 Murradoc Road, Drysdale (Amendment C208) and the development of a supermarket. The application proposes to rezone the land from Business 4 Zone to Business 1 Zone and seek planning permit approval for the development of an ALDI supermarket on the site. A permit is also required for alteration of access to a road in a Road Zone Category 1 (Murradoc Road), dispensation of car parking requirements and the display of advertising signage. See Appendix 4-2 for location of C208 site and existing zoning. Council has resolved to support the preparation and exhibition of both Amendment C200, the Highton proposal and C208, the Drysdale proposal...

On 22 February 2010, DPCD wrote to Council advising that the Minister for Planning had decided to appoint a separate Advisory Committee, under Section 151 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to provide advice in relation to the Highton, Drysdale and West Geelong proposals, in addition to other various Woolworths and ALDI proposals across Melbourne. The purpose of each Advisory Committee is to advise the Minister on the suitability of the sites for their proposed development, including a strategic review of the appropriateness of any rezoning/proposed use in view of the relevant State and Local Planning Policy Frameworks, the appropriate planning controls for any proposed amendment and whether a planning permit should be issued, including suggested permit conditions.

AMENDMENT C208: PROPOSED ALDI SUPERMARKET – DRYSDALE... The ALDI Drysdale proposal is also assessed as an ‘edge-of-centre’ development under the Greater Geelong Retail Strategy, June 2006, hierarchy of preferences for the location of new retail development. Given that the proposal is considered to be consistent with the Drysdale Clifton Springs Structure Plan 2009, on 13 October 2009 Council resolved to support the preparation and exhibition of the amendment and planning permit subject to the authorisation of the Minister for Planning being obtained. Following the Minister for Planning’s decision to appoint an Advisory Committee to provide advice in relation to amendments, ALDI have made a number of changes to the plans it had submitted to Council. These changes include:

• Relocating the ALDI building further to west of the site, onto the adjoining allotment to the west.
• Introducing 3 additional separate retail tenancies (approx 1500sqm in total) in the location of the earlier proposed Aldi footprint, on the east of the site.
• A carpark located centrally between the proposed ALDI and the three retail stores. Car parking also to be located along the Murradoc Rd frontage.
• A revised parking rate of 4.5/100sqm.
• Front setback of buildings has been increased to allow for two rows of parking between the proposed buildings and the road.

Council officers believe that the following issues should also be addressed by the proposed development:

• A pedestrian link to the residential land to the south. Note, this pedestrian link would not have any adverse impact on or require substantive changes to the current proposed layout.
• Provision of noise attenuation for loading bay/s.
• The provision of loading bay/s for the additional retail tenancies.
• A landscape plan which incorporates canopy trees and additional area along site frontage (excluding future road widening area).
• Provision of bicycle parking.

In line with Council’s resolution of 13 October 2009, it is recommended that Council continue to support the proposed amendment and planning permit and that the Council submission to the Advisory Committee reflect this position. It is also recommended that Council’s submission to the Advisory Committee request that the Committee consider Council’s issues as outlined above.

The complete agenda is available in pdf format. (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). You can also convert PDF documents into alternative formats.

Proposed site for Aldi in Murradoc Road, Drysdale.

UPDATE: - Article in the Geelong Advertiser, 12 Apil 2010 - City Hall votes on Aldi proposals.