Fire regulation red tape delays major Warburton development

A DECADE-OLD plan to create a $50 million resort in Melbourne’s outer east has been tied up in bushfire regulation red tape.

Artist impressions of the Edgewater Yarra Valley Resort and Spa which the Crockett Group intend to develop on Warburton's old Sanitarium site. (Taken from Edgewater Yarra Valley - Resort, Apartment Complex & Hotel Development Facebook page)

A DECADE-OLD plan to create a $50 million resort in Warburton has been tied up in bushfire regulation red tape.

Yarra Ranges Council is pleading with the State Government to intervene so the Edgewater Spa and Resort project, which includes a wine and food centre, can finally go ahead.

The Crockett Group obtained a planning permit to build the resort at the old Sanitarium site more than 10 years ago, but the prestige project has been plagued by delays.

Since the original permit was issued, laws have changed and the company must now create a fire buffer around the Warburton Highway property that would require it to lease and maintain surrounding Crown land.

The company is still spruiking the first allocation of off-the-plan apartments on its website, but cannot complete the project without the buffer zone.

Crockett Group representative Paul Little said it had been trying for months to negotiate a lease with the volunteer Upper Yarra River Reserve Committee.

Cr Jim Child put forward an urgent motion at the January 27 council meeting calling on Environment, Land, Water and Planning Minister Lisa Neville to step in to help resolve the issue.

“The developer is doing the right thing; they have created a fire management plan with a defendable space but that space goes on to Crown land,” Cr Child said.

“We are looking at a multi-million project and we are being stuffed around by a volunteer environmental group.”

But Upper Yarra River Reserve Committee president Gordon Buller, whose group was formed by government in the 1920s to manage Crown land in the area, said the committee was still waiting for information from the Crockett Group to finalise lease negotiations.

The original planning application approved in 2005 proposed a resort with more than 100 rooms plus conference, tourist and spa facilities.

Crockett Group operations manager Geoff Buckley said years of delays had caused frustration, but it was committed to the project.

“The cost to the company has been enormous. If we weren’t passionate about the community, we would have walked away a long time ago,” Mr Buckley said.

“There’s been overwhelming support from the community over the years and we are doing our best to honour that. This is really important for Warburton.”

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning said the committee had indicated it would support a lease but had not yet contacted the department to seek approval.