Council will seek to substantially reduce the number of Mornington Peninsula properties affected by an interim planning control for landslide susceptibility, after a thorough review of the data by geotechnical experts.
Council last night voted to seek Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny's approval for Planning Scheme Amendment C314morn to revise the interim Erosion Management Overlay (EMO7).
Minister Kilkenny placed EMO7 on about 33,000 properties in January this year following an urgent recommendation of the Board of Inquiry into the McCrae landslide. It was based on the best available mapping at that time.
Council has now reviewed and updated the data and is seeking to reduce the number of properties wholly or partially covered by EMO7 to about 6,000.
If Minister Kilkenny approves the amendment, just 4,200 residential and about 1,800 non-residential properties will be included in EMO7. About 5% of the Peninsula's total land area will be covered by the updated overlay, of which about 40% is public land.
Amendment C314morn will also remove red tape for minor buildings and works that pose minimal landslide risk. It also sets out a tiered assessment pathway for planning permit applications, allowing simpler applications to be processed faster.
A relatively small number of properties (about 360) will be added to the overlay. Most of these properties are next to a slope, and the refined mapping introduces a buffer zone where new development could increase landslide risk.
Mayor Councillor Stephen Batty said he hoped Minister Kilkenny would move quickly to approve the EMO7 mapping changes.
"While an Erosion Management Overlay would not have prevented the McCrae landslide, Council accepted the Minister's decision to urgently action the Board's recommendation," Cr Batty said.
"We appreciate the frustrations felt by many in the community when the overlay was originally placed on so many properties, which is why we quickly and thoroughly reviewed the mapping, using better data and technology."
If amended by the Minister, the updated EMO7 will continue to apply on an interim basis only, until a new, comprehensive Shire-wide landslide susceptibility study is completed to help inform permanent landslide planning controls. This will likely take at least 2-4 years to complete, including a full planning scheme amendment and public exhibition process. Council has appointed a consultant to undertake this work.
