69 McLachlan St. update, Bass Strait Freight (BSF) Information and more

69 McLachlan St Update - The Tiny Towns Fund application has been submitted to Regional Development Victoria for a $50,000 grant for minor works to the building to facilitate its use by the community. We will know the outcome in May and are feeling hopeful. Council is now inviting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from entities that wish to take ownership of the property to ensure its future and ongoing community use. As you know, ABCV will be making a submission on your behalf. Originally it was intended to apply on behalf of the community for a Trust to be created as the owner and an incorporated association to be formed to manage it.We are thrilled that Great Ocean Road Health (GORH) has proposed to be the Manager of the property which saves the formation of another incorporated body and removes the problem of finding new people to be on yet another committee. GORH will look after bookings at no charge for community use; maintenance; cleaning; will have better access to grants to build a new facility in time; they have DGR status, so no rates/taxes will apply, etc. They will ensure it is accessible to the community and community groups, similar to Marrar Woorn Having liaised with various stakeholder groups and the GORH Board, the ABCV committee is now seeking the community’s support to submit an EOI to the Council, on the community’s behalf, suggesting that the ownership of the property be transferred to a Charitable Trust, of 5 Trustees, to protect the property from being sold and to ensure its ongoing community use. The Trust will then hold a Management Contract with GORH, who will take charge of the facility’s operation. This proposal must be submitted to Council by the 22nd of March. Please let us know your thoughts as we are most excited about this structure, having given it a lot of thought, having received legal advice and feel confident that it will achieve the best outcomes for the community now and into the future.

Meetings with Colac Otway Shire - The first meeting for this year between ABCV and the Shire is now scheduled for mid- March and dates for a further 3 meetings in June, September and December have been confirmed.

Meetings with GORCAPA Similarly, ABCV will meet with GORCAPA in March as the first for the year and will schedule dates for the remainder of 2024.

Bass Strait Freight (BSF) Information Session an initiative of BSF was held on Monday to provide information about their proposal to truck up to 25,000 head of cattle per year through Apollo Bay harbour from King Island. Briefly, the intention is to bring a shipload of 450 head of cattle to be loaded into 10 semi-trailers to be transported to Colac, at least 43 times per year. BSF provided assurances that smell, and effluent will not be problematic. Meeting attendees voiced concerns regarding traffic management, noise in residential streets, impact on roads, the fishing industry and tourism. Information packs were provided regarding the proposal which currently cannot proceed as Colac Otway Shire has not granted permission for BSF’s vessel to enter the harbour. There is too much detail to provide here but the following documents are available below

BSF Information Pack

BSF information pack 29 2 24

.pptx

Download PPTX • 8.23MB

BSF Draft Environmental Management Plan

BSF Environmental Management Plan Apollo Bay_2 revised (1)

.pdf

Download PDF • 1.44MB

Draft Transport Management Plan

BSF Transport Management Plan Apollo Bay January 2024[5666]

.pdf

Download PDF • 1.16MB

Please email us at any time with any general concerns, queries, or comments to apllobayvoice@gmail.com or via our facebook page or our website www.abcvoice.com.au 

Jane Gross

President

Community wins Bay kinder battle

CELEBRATION: Apollo Bay’s Sue Hill, Graham Hill, Bill Gross, Jane Gross and Fran Roberts couldn’t contain their excitement when they heard that the Colac Otway Shire Council would gift the town’s old kinder site back to the community, cheering and clapping as they left the meeting.

by Naomi Newcombe December 15, 2023

Apollo Bay leaders say their efforts to keep the old kinder site in the hands of the community are historic after winning the fight for 69 McLachlan Street.

Colac Otway Shire councillors voted five to two in favour of gifting 69 McLachlan Street, Apollo Bay, back to the community rather than proceeding with the intended sale.

The council previously granted the Bay community an extra month to submit ideas for what the former kindergarten could be used for if the property was not sold as intended by the council.

Council’s intention to sell the property was to recoup the $348,000 it contributed towards the new Apollo Bay Early Years Hub.

Councillors confirmed that by gifting the property to the community this would remove any responsibility of the council to provide financial contribution beyond the transfer of the property.

“This takes away any cash for achieving a childcare outcome, takes away any money to be available in the future for any maintenance, repair or redevelopment of this particular site,” Cr Chris Potter, who moved the motion, said.

Apollo Bay’s Sue Hill, Graham Hill, Bill Gross, Jane Gross and Fran Roberts erupted into cheers and applause at the meeting when they learnt that the former kindergarten would be returned to the community.

Cr Potter said gifting the property to the Bay community addressed the needs identified by the community now.

“This doesn’t recover the $348,000 that council did spend in the first place in relation to childcare,” he said.

“I believe in the returning of the property to the community. It allows the community the ability to address their needs, it gives them ownership and self determination as to the community and it removes the council any current or future liabilities in relation to the property.”

Cr Max Arnott said the council should harness the amount of community momentum and goodwill for the property.

“If a block came up in Apollo Bay and the community needed a strategically placed block in the middle of the town to consider its future use and the cost of that to council was $348,000, when the real cost of land around there might be seven or eight hundred grand, I’d jump at it,” Cr Arnott said.

“But let’s not pretend it’s a good building, it’s not. It’s just a block of land.”

Cr Tosh-Jake Finnigan said they saw a sensible outcome in handing over the property for community use, “provided that we do not put a dollar more into the site”.

Cr Stephen Hart said the Apollo Bay community had demonstrated an ability to manage projects in the past such as the Bay’s pool.

Cr Graham Costin said gifting the property back to the community would help achieve good outcomes for the community, not just for current generations but into the future as well.

“The Apollo Bay community has demonstrated many times that it is capable, motivated, resourceful and responsible community that should be able to realise the full potential of this property if we gift it,” he said.

Cr Kate Hanson, who voted against gifting the property to the community, alongside Mayor Marg White, said the decision had not gone through the budget process or gone out for public consultation.

“I think this also just goes against the goodwill that was there around council and council officers working with the community and advocating seven or eight years ago around getting what is the best outcome which is the new kindergarten and the maternal and child services down at Apollo Bay,” she said.

“Part of that deal was that we would make this contribution and that would come out of the sale of the kindergarten.

“It’s really not particularly transparent to the community because people are only going to find out about that this has happened after the fact.”

Apollo Bay Community Voice president Jane Gross told council during question time that if the council gifted the property to the community, a charitable trust would be set up within 90 days with a board of trustees to oversee the property.

COMMUNITY MEETING Thursday 16 November 2023, 5.30pm

COMMUNITY MEETING Thursday 16 November 2023, 5.30pm

More than 40 people attended and agreed that: * the community wants to ensure the maximum possible benefit is achieved from the decision that is reached for the future of the McLachlan St property.

* the community is concerned that before selling any Council-owned land, Council has a clear plan of how the future needs of our growing community can be met now and into the future.

* the community agrees that the 2 main issues Apollo Bay faces for its sustainability are social/affordable housing and child-care.

Initially, the community was campaigning for McLachlan Street to provide housing, however, the site’s size, zoning, and a lack of interest from Homes Victoria limits its suitability for housing. Also, Council is considering Nelson Street for that purpose and seems to share some confidence that housing will be achieved for Apollo Bay but cannot announce details at this stage.

Apollo Bay Community Voice (ABCV) has met with representatives from Great Ocean Road Health (GORH), Apollo Bay & District Health Foundation, AB P-12 College, AB Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, AB Arts Inc and has liaised with community members, and submits the following 3 options regarding the future of 69 McLachlan Street:

Option 1 – Guaranteed Child-Care at the Early Years Hub (EYH)

· If the Council receives assurance from the State government that the Council’s commitment of the proceeds from the sale of 69 McLachlan Street will leverage sufficient funds from the State government to build an appropriately sized Child-care Centre at the EYH then the community supports the sale. Until that assurance is established, the community feels strongly that the site should not be sold.

Option 2 – Community Flexi-Hub

· The community believes that it is Council’s responsibility to provide space for community activities and services. To that end, if Child-Care at the EYH can be achieved by the State government without a Council contribution, the community requests that the Council retains the site and seeks State infrastructure funds, to build an innovative ‘Flexi-Hub’ for the McLachlan St site. This would include 4 rooms of 80 sq m per room to be used for the community’s immediate and changing needs such as meeting rooms, arts space, GORH consulting rooms with provision for 8 car parking spaces.

Option 3 – Gift to the Community

· Community leaders have discussed whether the community could raise the finances required to purchase the site but cannot foresee how this could be achievable and certainly couldn’t come up with a proposal in the 30 days that were provided. Therefore, the community requests the Council gifts the site back to the community for community benefit and community use. We request that Council considers this option to address the imbalance of its investment in Apollo Bay.

The following motion was passed unanimously at the Community Meeting:

“That as community members, we support the ABCV’s proposed 3 options regarding the sale of 69 McLachlan Street and authorize ABCV to submit this proposal to Council on our behalf."

If you did not attend the Community Meeting and want to support this motion, please email ABCV, before Monday 27 November, apollobayvoice@gmail.com with the subject ‘Support the motion’. Jane Gross President