A BALNARRING laneway designated as a road in an early 1900s subdivision, but now zoned green wedge, will be sold to a neighbouring Turner Rd land owner for $22,000.

But not everyone is happy with the sale, with a submission from a Myers Rd vineyard with restaurant and cellar door complaining that the sale will remove an important “buffer” between it and a neighbouring chicken farm.

The laneway, owned by Mornington Peninsula Shire, is not used for vehicle or pedestrian access, but is heavily vegetated and subject to an environmental significance overlay. The 12.7m wide, 713.7m long strip of land runs between 234 and 238 Myers Rd, and along the eastern boundary of 7 Turners Rd. The plan to discontinue the land as a laneway was advertised in October last year, with only one submission, from the commercial vineyard at 238 Myers Rd.

Unfortunately, the submitter attended the wrong council office and was not able to make a presentation at a previous submission committee meeting.

Lawyers representing the owners at 7 Turners Rd told the submission committee that the owner wanted to create a second access point to the property along a sealed road along the laneway due to bushfire safety concerns.

The council heard that sale of the laneway would effectively block access to the laneway for anyone else, but that the new owners had agreed to allow neighbours access for “emergency evacuation”.

The recommendation to sell the land was moved by Cr David Garnock and seconded by Cr Anne Shaw.

First published in the Western Port News – 26 July 2016