Way paved for house bid

A LONGSTANDING bid to build a house on the old Catani Primary School site has gained momentum, with Cardinia Shire Council paving the way for the development to finally go ahead.
Council at its meeting on 15 August adopted an amendment to its planning scheme to remove what shire officers described as an “anomaly” that had previously prevented a house from being built on the site in Taplins Road.
The move was said by Cr Doug Hamilton to be a “tribute to common sense”.
Council was told the ‘anomaly’ had resulted in appeals to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over its previous refusal to grant a planning permit for a house on the site.
Town planners said the land had a previous planning permit for a house under the former Cranbourne municipal planning scheme, but this was not translated into the zoning when the Cardinia Planning Scheme was introduced in August 1999.
The land was then zoned as special use, which prohibits a house to be built on it.
Council in February decided to seek authorisation from Minister for Planning Rob Hulls to rezone the land to green wedge, which would allow a house to be built on it.
Councillors were told at their meeting that VCAT had deferred consideration of the appeal, pending the amendment to the planning scheme.
Amendment C74 was approved unanimously by council and will be forwarded to Mr Hulls for approval.
Cr Kate Lempriere said the 7455square metre parcel of land was too small to be viable for agricultural purposes.