By Gabrielle Costa
CONTROVERSIAL plans for a pokies venue and four-storey hotel at Edgewater Estate have been knocked back by the Maribyrnong City Council.
The decision was met with applause and the resounding cheers of the 100 people who had crammed into last week’s meeting to hear the verdict on the proposal, which has prompted a series of community meetings and raised the ire of residents in the upmarket estate off Gordon St, Maribyrnong.
The Western Bulldogs, gaming machine operator Tattersall’s and Urbis Pty Ltd are pushing for the hotel, 70 gaming machines (up from the original request for 65), a bistro, cafe and entertainment facilities, as well as a liquor licence that would run from 7am to 3am.
More than 300 objections to the proposal were lodged with the council.
The developers still have the option of asking the state’s planning appeals body, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, to overturn the council’s unanimous decision.
Bulldogs board member Neil O’Keefe, who has acted as a spokesman on the issue, last week told Star that the council’s decision would be digested before any appeal was lodged with VCAT.
Mr O’Keefe said it was likely the developers would wait for a ruling on the poker machine application from the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation – the council can rule only on the planning aspects of the Edgewater proposal, not the gaming-related issues – before deciding whether to proceed with an appeal.
“We’re disappointed in the decision of council not to back the project. We still believe it’s completely in line with where everybody is trying to go with hospitality and gaming venues and we still think it’s a terrific development for the City of Maribyrnong,” Mr O’Keefe said.
“We’ve now got to have further talks with Tattersall’s and the developer to see what we might do next and in the meantime we’ll continue our dialogue with the council to see if we can resolve these issues. Certainly no decisions have been taken yet.”
The Bulldogs have said in the past that the development will not proceed unless there is approval on both fronts – planning and gaming.
Councillors were highly critical of the proposal and refused it on grounds that included its failure to comply with the local planning scheme, because it was adjacent to a strip shopping centre and therefore an inappropriate site for a gaming venue, because it would “adversely affect the social and economic well-being” of the community, and insufficient car parking spaces.
“We can’t, in all conscience, in law, do this,” mayor Michelle MacDonald told the meeting. “For me it’s fairly cut and dry.”
Councillor Michael Clarke said if the proposal went ahead it “would constitute an abuse” and Cr Catherine Cumming said “pokie machines are evil … They ruin people’s lives”.
Cr Dina Lynch said she had warned the Western Bulldogs they would have a fight on their hands if they pushed ahead with the proposal because of the “very articulate, very organised” people who had bought into Edgewater.
All councillors spoke and all were critical of the plans.
The VCGR hearing on poker machines had been scheduled for June but because the poker machine application has been increased from the original 65 to 70, it may be later.
