Council officers recommend rejection of $10m cabin and caravan park plan

Council officers have recommended the rejection of a tourism project supporters say will fill a crucial accommodation gap in Geelong’s northern suburbs – but recent history suggests that advice means little.

A renders of one of the proposed cabins. Picture: Supplied.

The future of an accommodation offering near two nature-based tourist attractions in Geelong’s north will be decided this week when City Hall’s planning committee meets for the final time in 2025.

The $10m-plus proposal put forward by Dean and Alisa Hinch for 325 Forest Rd North in Lara includes 56 cabins, ranging from one to three bedrooms.

There would also be 48 caravan and 14 tent sites spread across the 16ha site that sits within a farming zone between Serendip Sanctuary and You Yangs Regional Park.

A reception building would be home to a general store, while other infrastructure would include a manager’s dwelling, camp kitchens, barbecue shelters and storage buildings.

The planning committee, chaired by Andrew Katos, will on Thursday night hear that the project received 15 letters of support and 12 objections during a public consultation period in September last year.

Concerns cited by objectors included an increase in traffic, impacts to the rural character of the area, and issues relating to drainage and flooding.

While Parks Victoria did not object, it raised the potential for additional inflows of stormwater that may affect the ecology of Serendip Sanctuary.

Supporters mostly highlighted the flow-on benefits to small businesses in Lara.

Dean and Alisa Hinch, with children Eric and Max, and Brett Couzens and Louise Curtis at the proposed site of a caravan park in Lara at 325 Forest Rd North in Lara. Picture: Alison Wynd.

Mr Hinch said the park would fill a short-term accommodation gap in the area and was backed by the Lara Care Group.

“It’s really important because it’s something that’s been missing for so long, and we’ve been arguing for quite a long time to have appropriate short-term accommodation and RV (recreational vehicle) accommodation, and that’s exactly what this proposal brings,” the group’s president Barry White said.

However, council officers have recommended the committee reject the application, with its civil infrastructure and environment departments against the proposal.

“The application is inconsistent with Lara structure plan which seeks to maintain farming uses and rural landscape settings, north of the Lara settlement boundary,” council documents state.

Mr Hinch said he would take the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal if the committee knocked back the proposal.

The park would be spread across 16ha. Picture: Supplied.

At the previous four planning committee meetings, councillors have gone against the recommendation put to them by officers.

After his three-storey, 21-apartment Barrabool Rd project was rejected in April, developer James Morphy called for the committee to be disbanded.

“Something needs to change because the local council tells you what to do, the planning rules tell you what to do, we complied with everything and they still knock you back … it makes you question the entire process,” he said.

Originally published as Council officers recommend rejection of $10m cabin and caravan park plan