By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
KEYSBOROUGH Golf Club’s hopes to carve its green-wedge home into a housing estate and move to a new base at Pillars Road have taken a small step forward.
Greater Dandenong councillors approved a revised subdivision of 280, 296 and 356 Pillars Road by developer Intrapac on 12 October.
The southern 74-hectare lot is believed to be earmarked for the golf club under a deal with Intrapac which is expected to yield $40 million for the club and members.
Intrapac, in its application, has claimed the re-subdivision would enable the existing cross-country riding track and arena, as well as the opportunity for “sustainable farming activities” and a “broader range of agricultural activities”.
Defenders of the Green Wedge was the sole objector to the re-subdivision.
Some of its objections hinged on the impacts of run-off water and traffic if the land was used as a golf course.
However the council did not countenance those arguments on the basis it had not received an application for a golf course at Pillars Road – though it is aware of the club and Intrapac’s plan.
A bemused Defenders of the Green Wedge secretary Barry Ross said: “Everybody knows it is going to be a golf course and they’re resubdividing it under the guise of agriculture.”
In June, the golf club’s members voted for the sale of their 76-hectare Hutton and Springvale roads home to Intrapac – subject to it being rezoned from green-wedge to residential.
As part of the deal, the golf club would move to a yet-to-be-built golf course and training centre at 256-356 Pillars Road.
It is seen as pivotal to keeping the club “immune from financial stress for many future generations”, club caption Darrell Swindells said.
The whole move still hinges on State Planning Minister Richard Wynne’s assent to moving the club’s existing home out of the green wedge and into the urban growth boundary.
His spokeswoman has recently told the Journal: “The Andrews Labor government has committed to maintaining and enhancing the green wedge and, while we will not pre-empt any decisions, future applications would be considered with that pledge in mind”.
