Residents lobbying against high-rise development on the former Port Phillip Woollen Mill site in Williamstown will hold a state election candidates’ forum later this month.
As reported by Star Weekly, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has approved a 128-dwelling, 10-storey tower and 41 three-storey townhouses as stage two of the development.
Evolve Development already had approval to build 120 apartments and seven townhouses as part of stage one.
It has not revealed its plans for stage three.
The development site is opposite Mobil’s tank “farm”, which is classed as a major-hazard facility (MHF).
Save Williamstown is calling for a statewide moratorium on construction near MHFs pending a parliamentary inquiry.
Williamstown Labor MP Wade Noonan and Greens candidate Simon Crawford have confirmed their attendance at the forum.
Liberal candidate Alan Shea said he could not attend as he was already booked for the night of October 29.
But he would not reveal the event he was attending instead. “There’s a lot of going on,” Mr Shea said. “I’m not at liberty to say, but I am booked up.”
Asked his view on a moratorium, Mr Shea said he had to be “very careful” because such matters were site-specific.
He said he would need to see a report before making a specific comment. Asked if he thought high-rise development was appropriate for the mill site, Mr Shea replied: “I won’t make any comment on that one at the moment.”
Save Williamstown spokesman Godfrey Moase said he hoped Mr Shea would change his mind or that the Liberals could send a replacement.
He said there were no clear guidelines on what was a safe distance for development near MHFs.
“Ideally, we’d like to see a moratorium on development near MHFs on new building construction pending a parliamentary inquiry into the topic,” he said.
Mr Noonan has previously blamed Planning Minister Matthew Guy for a 34-metre tower being approved on the mill site.
He said the Liberals had made an ironclad promise to protect Williamstown from high-rise development before the last election.
In turn, Western suburbs Liberal MP Bernie Finn blamed Labor’s then-planning minister Justin Madden for rezoning the site to residential.
The candidates’ forum will be held on Wednesday, October 29, from 7pm at Williamstown RSL, 128 Ferguson Street, Williamstown.
