PLANS to store up to 200 boats in four five metre high stacker sheds and build a 38 metre boat ramp at Western Port Marina, Hastings, have been rejected by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council.
Councillors said the sheds could be built out of sight from houses in Skinner Street and away from mangroves that formed part of the UNESCO recognised Western Port Biosphere Reserve. Councillors voted against the proposed development on the Hastings foreshore despite senior planner Charlotte McGillivray recommending they approve it subject to some changes, including providing plans drawn to scale with dimensions.
In a report to council’s Wednesday 14 August public meeting McGillivray said the extension to the marina was “considered acceptable … as it will maintain and expand an existing boating and recreational facility in Hastings and Western Port, which are identified in numerous policies and strategies as being of state and regional significance and of high economic value to the state in terms of their recreation and tourism value”. “The proposal is not considered to have any adverse effects on marine and coastal environment functions and processes given its location within a man-made coastal structure (reclaimed land for a marina). This area is not natural, and the land area is devoid of any environmental qualities,” she said.
Residents of Skinner Street, Hastings, which overlooks the proposed boat shed site, disagreed. When speaking at the council meeting Ray Dart quoted council’s master plan which recommended treading lightly when building on the foreshore and being sympathetic to the coastal environment. “How can that be considered with a boat store nine metres high? It astounds me if that is sympathetic to environment,” he said. Dart said the majority of people in Hastings could not afford a boat and that he believed the proposed boat storage sheds would mostly benefit boat owners from out of town.
Nina Williams said there was room for the boat storage sheds elsewhere in the marina, away from the mangroves which were part of the UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserve.
Cr Susan Bissinger agreed, saying she could not believe the boat sheds were being considered on the foreshore.
“It is not appropriate to put storage sheds right up to the mangroves and dwarfing the restaurant [next to the marina]. It’s almost horrific,” she said. “I just don’t get it. The area is ripe for opportunities to be made into something beautiful … [but] once the boat racks are there any opportunity to make this area community friendly is gone.”
Cr Sarah Race, who unsuccessfully moved that the storage sheds be approved, “understood” there was a “lot of passion here tonight”, but said they would be part of a “working marina”.
If rejected by council and taken to the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal for a decision, the sheds would likely be approved as they were “coastal dependent infrastructure” and Hastings was a designated marine precinct.
Cr Kate Roper said the “small area” where the boat sheds would be built was “light industrial … [and] an ugly gravel car park” and would only block views on one side of the restaurant at the marina.
Cr David Gill thought it “an interesting concept that blocking off the environment, blocking off views and affecting a thriving business is acceptable in this council”. “We have the situation where this doesn’t happen anywhere else in the shire except in Hastings, and I can’t believe that councillors are sitting in this room and even contemplating this development,” he said. He said the proposal would not happen in Mornington or Portsea and he had never thought he would have to “defend Hastings from this sort of development”. “We’re just going whack. This is a whacking for Hastings, to say that this is acceptable. I’m amazed,” Gill said.
“Just because something can be built doesn’t mean it should be built. Especially in this location,” Cr Antonella Celi said.
Cr Lisa Dixon did not think the boat storage sheds would be permitted elsewhere on the peninsula. “No matter where we live or who we are, we are entitled to have a beautiful aspect to look out on,” she said, referring to someone who had made the comment that nearby houses were “just Housing Commission”. “We all deserve a solid place to actually be able to enjoy where we live,” she said. “I’m appalled.”
First published in the Western Port News – 21 August 2024
