UPDATE, FRIDAY, 10.40am: The rejection of a planning application for an innovative beer brewing plant in the suburb of Invermay has prompted the City of Ballarat's director of development and growth Natalie Robertson to emphasise the need for planning to go through the appropriate channels within council.
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Dollar Bill Brewing had a retrospective application to alter permits at its site off Millers Road in Invermay rejected at a planning meeting on Wednesday night.
Ms Robertson and all councillors present said they supported the sour beer proposal, but it could not go forward in the current zone.
"Given the situation that landowners can find themselves in, it is important to ensure that due diligence is undertaken to ensure that all appropriate permits are obtained," Ms Robertson told The Courier.
"As best as we can, we want to facilitate opportunities, but we encourage the community to make contact with our Concierge when thinking about commencing or purchasing a business or property. There is no guarantee that, having done the work or commenced the business prior to seeking the proper approvals that a retrospective permit is a given.
"As the director of development and growth this a situation that I would prefer not to see members of our community in, in the future."
EARLIER: City of Ballarat councillors expressed sympathy for the owners of Dollar Bill Brewing on Wednesday night as they found themselves unanimously supporting council planning officers in rejecting a retrospective planning application by the business owners.
Dollar Bill Brewing, which specialises in sour beer made with wild yeasts from Ballarat, had applied to create a function centre and alcohol production business on their three-hectare site in the rapidly-developing suburb, along an application for a rural industry, being hops plantings and an apple orchard for brewing.
Owners Fiona and Ed Nolle had argued through a planning lawyer their brewery met the conditions of a small business as required in the Rural Living Zone.
"We have proved via a planning lawyer we are a rural industry. It is a small business. We would not bring any riff-raff into Invermay," Ms Nolle told the meeting, addressing concerns raised by residents of large numbers of patrons attending a cellar door at the property.
However, a series of residents objecting to the application pointed out the owners had been fined by council on two occasions in the past for environmental breaches, and in their opinion the case made by the applicants for the development was flawed.
"We don't want tourism in Invermay" was the refrain of several of the objectors at the Planning Delegated Committee Meeting.
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The residents were also concerned the brewery would have an impact upon the lifestyle they had created in the fringe suburb.
Objectors Cindy Swanson and Jamie Goldsmith had both attended a community meeting about the development in December, they said, and the clear feeling from the 30 to 40 attendees was tourism was not a suitable outcome for Invermay.
The suburb was for residential use first and foremost, Ms Swanson told the meeting, and it was clear the brewery was a prohibited use.
Resident Cameron Palmer was critical of council for not advertising the original planning application in 2017, saying the Nolles had breached their permits and had since struggled to maintain the land.
It was, he said, a "planning enforcement nightmare".
The Nolles had imported soil into a flood zone, after the catchment authority had refused their development, Mr Palmer said.
"They have no regard for rules and regulations," he told the meeting.
Mr Palmer said water backed up into Millers Road following the heavy rains, due to car park work the Nolles had established. He had concerns over drink driving, saying the brewery was close to the school bus stop.
In their defence of the application, Fiona Nolles told the meeting she and her partner had tried their best to work with their neighbours and the community. She accepted they had made mistakes, and had since worked with the Glenelg-Hopkins Catchment Management Authority to rectify some of the works they had done.
While agreeing with their fellow councillors the application needed to be rejected, Samantha McIntosh, Amy Johnson, Belinda Coates, Peter Eddy, Des Hudson and Daniel Moloney all suggested it would be prudent for the Nolles to seek the assistance of the council's economic development team, as their business was unique and would be a boon to Ballarat in terms of tourism and craft brewing in the city.