An award-winning Ballarat brewery is 'disappointed' after councillors have 'listened to a vocal minority' and refused to support its planning application for a cellar door in Invermay, despite making numerous concessions.
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After council unanimously denied a planning permit application in February for Dollar Bill Brewing for the 'use of the land for horticulture, a function centre with producer's licence, rural industry (cider production and wild fermented beer production)' in February, the matter is now going to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The property at 166 Millers Road, Invermay, is in a rural living zone with some level of small business operation allowed in the zone.
Council's planning delegated committee met on Wednesday night to make a decision on council's position on the application, which had since been amended, ahead of the VCAT hearing.
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The vote went against council officer recommendation for council to support the application at the VCAT hearing, subject to some planning conditions.
With the amended application reducing patron numbers from 40 to 10, reducing the area of consumption to the shed building and removing car parking a part of the property at risk of flood, the officer report said council's original grounds of refusal had fallen away.
Dollar Bill Brewing owner Fiona Nolle said she was disappointed the application was not supported.
"Dollar Bill Brewing is disappointed that after having met all the requirements and having the support of the City of Ballarat planning department and all the relevant authorities, the councillors chose to listen to the opinions of a vocal minority and ignored the best interests of greater Ballarat and our legal right to operate and make a living," she said.
After more than 10 presentations were heard on the matter, many from neighbouring residents in opposition of the application on grounds such as the use of the land for industry in a rural living zone, flood risk and quality of agricultural growth, south ward councillor Des Hudson moved an alternate motion to not support the application at the VCAT hearing.
Central ward councillor Samantha McIntosh seconded the motion, which won convincingly, with only central ward councillor Mark Harris and south ward councillor Ben Taylor voting against the motion to not support the application.
Cr Hudson said despite the alterations to the plans, he still did not believe the location was appropriate for the cellar door.
"Currently, my view is the current site they are on is not a suitable use in the area they are living. It impacts too greatly on their neighbours who are part of a community that wants to hold on to that," he said.
"At this point in time, I cannot see that there should be a need for council to change its position even though officers have assessed that with the scaling back and some amended plans, but on the balance of it, I still believe it is an inappropriate use in that location and detriment to the broader community."
Cr Taylor said the plans were very different to what was refused by council in February.
"It's a really difficult one to say it should be somewhere else, but then in a rural living zone, it has that opportunity," he said.
"It is a right that can be used in that location, it's just a matter of putting the right controls in place to then have that operating successfully without the impact on the residents around it and I think what's been provided with the plans."
Presenting to council before the decision, Ms Nolle said little about the business' operations would change should the permit be granted.
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"Currently, when we go off and we represent at the Ballarat Beer Festival or Great Australian Beer Spectapular... each time we have to get separate insurances, we have to get a separate licence through the VCGLR, because we are currently a home-based business and we are pre-retail, we have to jump through a huge amount of hoops to go to these events and for us to go along and be able to represent at these events, I think is really important and we're super proud when we get those chances," she said.
"The biggest changes are we could have 10 people... and we'd have the opportunity if they wanted to buy a four-pack, they could take it with them, that'd be great for us.
"We'd have a producer's licence and go to an event and not jump through hoops. We could finally get some crops in the ground and see if we can actually use our own fruit and say this is completely from Ballarat, this isn't Ballarat brewed and Ballarat people, this is our fruit as well, this is wild yeast we capture here.
"As within the wine industry, terroir, which is a sense of place and where something comes from, it's an identity and for us that's really important to show our identity."