September 9, 2022
12496497-CG22-21
FREE DIGITAL EDITION
(Justin Flynn) 298097_01
SIG N U P N O W!
Gary king of the kids Geelong Cats star Gary Rohan gave a footy clinic to excited young boys and girls at Ocean Grove on Wednesday. The ‘Born and Bred’ clinic was brought to the Bellarine by Red Energy, which also donated $1000 to the Ocean Grove Cobras Junior Football Club. Rohan took a question and answer session after the clinic and signed jumpers and posed for photographs. Rohan lives in Ocean Grove and was best afield in Geelong’s thrilling qualifying final win against Collingwood on the weekend. ■ Story: page 3.
Residents fight for Pako By Matt Hewson
12567001-AV36-22
A group of “concerned and angry” Geelong West residents are trying to rally support to oppose the potential for eight-storey residential developments in the north end of Pakington Street, calling on residents to attend a community meeting at Geelong West Town Hall this weekend. The residents said the City of Greater Geelong’s (COGG) interim final Urban Design Framework (UDF) for the Pakington North Precinct would allow council to greenlight high-rise developments, which would be the beginning of the end for the village feel the
area is renowned for. Geelong West resident Jessica Sullivan said such building heights were explicitly discouraged in council’s planning scheme and, despite widespread opposition from the community, council had provided no justification for the proposed developments. “There are two sections of the planning scheme that the building heights completely ignore,” Ms Sullivan said. “We know there’s a lot of pressure for increased housing diversity in Geelong, but it can’t be done at the expense of the character of the street and the amenity of the residents. “These building heights are not only going to destroy privacy, but a report that CoGG
commissioned about solar testing shows that the entire north end of the street will be in shadow until about 10am. “Their traffic assessment also says the Pakington-Church Street intersection is currently operating above capacity, so the extra cars from tenants in these buildings will just completely wipe out that intersection.” Ms Sullivan said apart from the proposed building heights, the UDF was generally well-supported in the community, and residents didn’t want to “throw the baby out with the bath water”. ■ Continued:
Page 3
Residents Ange Mangan, Jane Mooney, Guenter Sahr, former mayor of City of Geelong West Kevin Kirby (front), Ashlee Lawler, Jess Sullivan and Sue Wong with Chester. (Ivan Kemp) 297344_03