June 2018 | Sharon Webb

DISPUTE OVER a unit development in Beefeater St Deloraine is now resolved, with Meander Valley Council allocating $57,000 in road improvements to stop the developer appealing to the planning authority.

Meander Valley Council general manager Martin Gill said all joined parties to the appeal, several residents, the developer Andrew Terry and the council, have signed a consent agreement. The matter now will not go to a hearing of the Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal.

The terms of the resolution include Mr Terry paying around $10,000 for construction of kerb, channel and footpath across the total width of the property and widening his internal driveway.

In return, Meander Valley Council will improve Beefeater Street between and Moriarty St to accommodate the extra 63 vehicle movements a day from Mr Terry’s development.

The $57,000 cost of the road improvement is in the council’s 2018-2019 capital works budget.

Mr Gill said council’s work on Beefeater St would include upgraded pavements, kerbing and guttering.

“The intersections will be designed to contemporary standards and an upgrading of driveway entrances if necessary.”

Responding to Beefeater St residents’ safety concerns, Mr Gill said the council would look at line-marking and signage.

Mr Terry applied twice to the council to place seven four-bedroom ex-Pontville refugee huts on his parents’ Beefeater St block.

Councillors rejected the plan twice but changed when Mr Terry appealed to the RMPAT because they were loathe to pick up the legal bill for the appeal.

Beefeater St residents continue to be unhappy about Mr Terry’s project because they believe the ex-refugee huts are unsuitable for the area but this is not sufficient grounds for appealing to the RMPAT.