Editor Comment: Hopefully this is a little more informative.

The Mirboo North Structure Plan Refresh project updates the 2004 Mirboo North Structure Plan. 

The project resulted in an updated framework to guide future land use and development. Its town centre recommendations seek to ensure orderly development as the town changes and grows. South Gippsland Planning Scheme Amendment C115  implements the town centre related recommendations of the adopted Mirboo North Structure Plan Refresh (2017) into the planning scheme. 

An Independent Planning Panel considered unresolved submissions received during exhibition of the Amendment. The Panel recommended that the Amendment be adopted as exhibited subject to some changes, notably that the current zoning remains in place. 

Mirboo North Structure Plan Refresh (2017) was prepared in 2016 and 2017 with public consultation undertaken in 2016. The project updates the 2004 Mirboo North Structure Plan. This project has been worked on by Council since around 2015 and taken many hours of work and community consultation. 

Amendment C115 seeks to implement the recommendations of the Mirboo North Structure Plan Refresh (2017) by: 

• Inserting a new Schedule 13 to Clause 43.02 Design and Development Overlay (DDO13) to apply to the Mirboo North town centre;  and 

• Amending Design and Development Overlay Schedule 2 (DDO2) to improve its usability and implement the town centre recommendations 

These two schedules are merely the rules that planners and applicants must follow when applying for a permit in these areas. They are both shown below

A proposed rezoning of 4-6 Peters Street and 39-41 Giles Street, Mirboo North from the Mixed Use Zone to the Commercial 1 Zone is no longer proposed and was not included in the changes after objections by some residents and the planning panel determination that those changes would not be fair and reasonable; 

Proposed Rezoning 

The proposed rezoning in Peters Street and Giles Street was intended to provide for the town’s future commercial expansion by protecting the properties from residential development. Rezoning would safeguard land adjacent to the existing small supermarket for possible future expansion. Rezoning from Mixed Use Zone to Commercial 1 Zone would prevent new dwellings being established on the land without the requirement for a planning permit. The proposal sought to prevent further residential development inhibiting commercial expansion, particularly if a larger supermarket becomes viable in Mirboo North.

The Panel did not consider the proposed rezoning was appropriate for the following reasons: 

• The suitability of the site for its intended purpose and the ability for it to be properly connected to the existing town centre have not been adequately assessed; 

• The supply and demand analysis in the Mirboo North Structure Plan – Economic Inputs (2016) report does not provide adequate justification for the need to rezone more land to Commercial 1 at this time; and 

• Rezoning of the land would effectively sterilise the use of the land in the medium to long term, and that this is not a fair outcome for the current owner.

Land affected by the Amendment

The amendment affects the township of Mirboo North and in particular its town centre, specifically: 

· Commercial 1 Zone, Public Use Zone and General Residential Zone properties in the town centre affected by the Design and Development Overlay Schedule 13 (DDO13). Refer to Map below.
· Industrial 3 Zoned land affected by the Design and Development Overlay Schedule 2 (DDO2). Refer to Map below.
· Changes to Clause 21.14 which affect the entire township of Mirboo North. Map 1 – Land affected by DDO2 & DDO13