The residents have vowed to take their fight to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Ballarat City Council endorsed the development 5-3 after more than an hour's debate on Wednesday.

About 30 residents opposed the subdivision, which is planned for a 15ha site at the corner of Springs and Longs Hill roads.

Residents expressed concerns about the impact the development would have on traffic, rural amenity, the environment and farming.

Linton Horsfield said he was unhappy about the lack of dialogue between the two parties.

"In my opinion, it was a done-deal even before the councillors sat down last night," Mr Horsfield said.

"The residents are upset about the attitude of the developer and there was a distinct lack of consultation in the early stages.

"It's almost as if the residents found out about these plans by accident.

"Most people were also unaware that the council rezoned the land in 1998."

Another Springs Rd resident, Neil Dart, said he was left "pretty disillusioned' by the council's planning and appeals process.

"A lot of people had high hopes that their arguments would be heard last night but I personally felt it was like talking to deaf ears," Mr Dart said.

"We received a token hearing last night, it was almost as if the councillors' had made up their minds before the meeting.

"This has been a magnificent semi-rural area for the past 15 to 20 years and now we're going to have to get used to an extra 1000 vehicle movements every day."

But Peter Ludbrook, a spokesman on behalf of Foluco Developments, said the planning process had been clearly followed by officers and councillors.

"Unfortunately, it's a fact of life that when an umpire makes a decision, some people don't like it," he said.

"We have a contingency plan in place to go to VCAT, obviously we would prefer not to but we feel we have an extremely strong case to take to them."

Nerrina Ward councillor Ian Jolly said the applicants still needed to have sewerage plans approved for the subdivision.

"It's zoned residential, the applicant has done everything he was asked to do and passed with flying colours," Cr Jolly said.

"Councillors always go into meetings with an open mind, nothing is decided behind the scenes."