WHILE members of the now defunct Kingswood have been enjoying the fruits of their club merging with Peninsula for 13 years only now, the developer has finally received the go-ahead to build more than 900 homes on the land where their venerable course once stood
And only after an alleged clerical slip-up by a local council objecting to the development.
It is a salutary lesson for developers and struggling golf clubs who see relocation as the instant panacea for their financial woes.
Even recently, Keysborough’s members voted against their board agreeing to extend the 10-year option a developer had on its golf course to create 800 homes on its site.
The plan had been to relocate the club and course to Bangholme where a community sports centre and updated golf facilities were on the drawing board. Now all bets are off. Keysborough is staying put.
Rossdale is another club which has developers in waiting, thinking it could relocate to the Capital Golf Course. But its developer was outbid by the wealthy Fox family who are believed to have paid around $100 million for the property.
As far as Kingswood goes, it is alleged by the Age newspaper that Kingston City Council narrowly missed the deadline to appeal the redevelopment of the course with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) by just four days late last year.
An arial view of the Kingswood Golf Club site at Dingley Village in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
The 52-hectare site in Dingley Village, south-east of Melbourne, is being redeveloped by Satterley Property Group founded by Perth property titan Nigel Satterley.
Victoria’s planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny approved the development on October 13 last year, giving the council until November 10 to lodge an objection to the decision as per the 28-day timeframe set out in planning legislation.
The Age reported that according the VCAT documents the council incorrectly understood October 17 to be the date of approval – causing the appeal application to be lodged four days after the deadline and it was rejected by VCAT
The tribunal found the council had made a mistake in calculating the deadline and refused to grant a time extension at a December 19 hearing.
So it’s all systems go after the development had faced years of objections from the council and nearby residents.
At a November 10 council meeting last year, Kingston Councillor Caroline White said that allowing the development to proceed would “annihilate” the local community and called for the plans to be scrapped. “It will create absolute chaos in a suburb not designed to manage this type of growth,” White said at the meeting.
Save Kingswood Group President, Kevin Poulter, called the project “the worst development ever proposed for Victoria.” He has been fighting against the project for 13 years.
It appears the efforts of local residents and council have fallen on deaf ears.
The post Objections ignored for redevelopment of the former Kingswood GC site first appeared on Inside Golf. Australia's Most-Read Golf Magazine as named by Australian Golfers - FREE.