Pods refused

A farm zone review may be imminent after councillors refused two accommodation pods on a Mountain View farm.
Cr Danny Goss urged fellow councillors to uphold the Baw Baw Shire planning scheme as he led the charge to refuse the application from Active Town Planning Consultancy for 8 Curwen Rd. He argued, "this is simply not agricultural use".
"The fragmenting of our farming land has got to stop," Cr Goss said. "Our job here is to preserve it."
Councillors held differing views on the application, with three supportive and two opposed to the development, but supportive of a farm zone review.
In a sign of possible change ahead, Cr Adam Sheehan said "we want to change these policies, we don't want to sit on our hands".
Cr Brendan Kingwill put forward an alternate motion to approve the application and allow a farm stay operation with a four-patron limit.
"At its heart, this is about diversification," Cr Kingwill said. "Supporting farmers to supplement their incomes while maintaining agriculture use of the land."
With the motion defeated, councillors returned to the officer recommendation to issue a notice of decision to refuse the application, voting five-three in favour.
In his submission, applicant Eli Fratkin said more than 99 per cent of his property would remain in grazing use as "the pods occupy a very small area of less-production land".
Mr Fratkin said two independent agricultural experts confirmed the site's steep terrain limited other agricultural options and detailed how the development would help fund ongoing weed management, pasture improvement and environmental care.
He said the project would contribute to both "the agricultural and tourism fabric of the Mountain View district".
An officer report said the site was located within the farming zone and the application did not meet municipal planning policies.
"The camping and caravan park represents a non-agricultural use that does not enhance or relate to agriculture and has the potential to introduce land use conflicts with surrounding agricultural operations and limit their expansion," the report said.
Officers visited the irregular shaped 10-hectare site in September. Currently undeveloped, the lot includes only a deteriorated outbuilding.
Made of aluminium and plastic panels, the two proposed accommodation pods would be 2.58m in height, 8.45m long and 2.2m wide. The internal layout was for an ensuite, shower and open plan living and sleeping area.
In addition to the two pods, a 36 square metre shed and 70,000 litre water tank were proposed.
The report said three objections were submitted relating to noise, privacy, potential trespassing, traffic, erratic weather and impact on livestock.
Introducing tourism accommodation brings a sensitive, amenity-based use into a working rural environment where noise, odour, spraying and machinery use is normal. These legitimate agricultural activities could be perceived as a nuisance to guests, increasing the risks of land use conflict, particularly due to the lack of buffers between the site and surrounding uses," the report stated.
Cr Kingwill said the application proposed minor additions that "won't have any meaningful impact at all on the farming use of the land".
"It's not a caravan park," Cr Kingwill said. "It's a sustainable, small-scale farm stay experience that celebrates our region and strengthens our future."
Cr Ben Lucas said this was the new council's first test of its promised "open for business" attitude.
"Knocking this back does not protect high value land," Cr Lucas said. "I argue this is an acceptable use of the farm zone."
Cr Kate Wilson supported the application in principle but was a "no for now" given current policies and similar applications being declined.
Cr Wilson called for strategic analysis of the shire to potentially rezone farmland to activity zones, where appropriate.
Cr Sheehan agreed the applicant should return post farm land review, believing the site wasn't prime agricultural land due to its inclination, exposure and soil quality.
"Unfortunately, under our current policies, there is no room for negotiation as far as what contrives prime agricultural land," Cr Sheehan said.
With appropriate conditions, Cr Suzanne Allen believed the application supported sustainable rural tourism, economic resilience and entrepreneurial innovation.
"Rural landholders are increasingly looking at ways to diversify income while respecting their land," Cr Allen said.
"This projects offers a model for how that can be done sensitively, a way to keep families on the land and attract new economic activity into our shire."
Cr Goss said the decision was relatively simple. "As soon as you develop these smaller lots, you are losing them forever for agricultural use."