T'GALLANT Restaurant in Mornington-Flinders Road, Main Ridge, has lost its bid in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to massively increase the size of its restaurant.
The tribunal described its plan as being of a "scale and intensity [that] cannot be supported" on the small green wedge site.
In a judgment dated February 11, the tribunal supported Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors, who voted 10-0 to reject T'Gallant's application to increase restaurant seats from 60 to 274, plus 40 cellar door patrons.
Brewing and wine giant Foster's Group, which owns T'Gallant, also sought to increase parking from 41 to 171 spaces and to operate a function centre on the 15.8-hectare site.
The rejection – crucial to the future of green wedge land on the peninsula – was conveyed by the tribunal's deputy president Helen Gibson and member Bill Sibonis: "... [T]he decision of the responsible authority is affirmed. No amendment of [the planning permit] is granted."
The result is a blow not only to T'Gallant and Mornington Peninsula winery restaurants, but also to business operators and developers eyeing land in all 11 green wedge zones around Melbourne. T'Gallant sought more than double the patrons permitted at new restaurants, arguing that it was legally entitled to seek such an amendment to its permit, which was granted before the introduction of green wedge zoning.
The VCAT agreed that the expansion T'Gallant sought was legal under existing-use rules, but that "the scale and intensity of the proposed uses is well beyond that contemplated by the [green wedge] zone provisions" and that this "must weigh against approval". New restaurants must now be sited on 40 hectares or more and are allowed a maximum of 150 patrons.
Foster's Group has until March 10 to appeal the decision in the Supreme Court.
Protesters against the T'Gallant plan were jubilant. "We are very pleased and relieved that the VCAT has got this one right," a Red Hill Community Action spokesman said.
"The peninsula's precious green wedge land is coming under more intense attack all the time, including from the shire through its latest plan, to allow 100-site camping and caravan parks on most land parcels of more than 40 hectares. There are more than 100 such parcels
"The shire knows it cannot stop permanent residents on them. The fight to save the green wedge is really just beginning to hot up."
The VCAT also rejected T'Gallant's bid for a function centre, saying it was a new use and was prohibited.
"Allowing a permit to be amended by including an additional prohibited use ... would enable the planning controls in a planning scheme to be circumvented," the tribunal stated.
T'Gallant admitted in its application to the shire council that it regularly had up to 274 dining patrons, plus 40 cellar door customers, at the property despite being limited to 60 patrons.
The tribunal noted that Foster's Group "did not specifically concede that it was in breach of its permits" at the tribunal hearing, adding that "the permit amendment application is an attempt to avoid enforcement action" – a reference to the fining of T'Gallant more than a year ago for permit breaches, which Foster's Group has challenged and which is still pending.
The tribunal also focused on T'Gallant's cellar door activities, pointing out that wine is no longer made at the property and querying "why there is a continued reference to the redundant use of [the words] 'cellar door sales'" considering that "such a use is no longer separately defined" and requires a separate permit.
It hinted that cellar door sales in the absence of a cellar may be questionable, and stated that "in certain respects ... this aspect of the application is not particularly well considered" – perhaps a jab at Foster's Group barrister and peninsula property owner Stuart Morris QC, a former VCAT president and Supreme Court judge.
Email a friend