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Tuesday 19 April 2022
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Fast food outlets consumed by fire AN INVESTIGATION is under way into the causes of a fire that destroyed two Mornington fast food restaurants and forced the temporary closure of Nepean Highway. The Red Rooster store and a neighbouring kebab shop were gutted by the fire which started around midday on Sunday 17 April and quickly filled the streets with thick, black smoke. It is believed the fire started at Mornington Star Kebabs. Pictures: Dary Lane Portraits (main) and Gary Sissons (inset)
Ryman returns to VCAT with ‘cut’ plan Liz Bell liz@mpnews.com.au THE application to build an aged care centre and retirement units on the site of the Moondah mansion in Kunyung Road, Mount Eliza, is returning to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. As Mornington Peninsula Shire Council was unable to decide on the application within the 60-day statutory timeframe, the tribunal will now get to decide whether to approve the
amended plans. Ryman Healthcare’s proposal for the aged care and independent living “village” on the site of the former Reg Ansett-owned land was knocked back at VCAT last July, but just weeks later the New Zealand-based company submitted new plans with a smaller footprint. While the original application comprised of six four-storey buildings, two four-storey wings attached to the existing mansion, three three-storey buildings housing 272 apartments, including 55 assisted living units and
217 independent living units, and 124 aged care beds, the new application proposes 13 fewer assisted living units and 77 fewer apartments. The number of care beds remains at 82. Ryman’s Victorian development manager David Laing said the company had cooperated fully with council since lodging the permit last year “so we’re not sure what caused the hold up”. He said the company was pleased that VCAT ruled last year that the proposal “was a suitable use for the site”. The VCAT ruling stated that the
site was “not the preferred location for aged care, neither is there strong evidence of unmet localised demand”. Mr Laing also said Ryman had followed VCAT’s “clear guidance” on how the plans could be modified to get the level of density right, and he believed the scaled-back proposal responded “directly to that feedback”. “We’re looking forward to creating a village community that saves and restores Moondah mansion, while providing quality care for some of society’s most vulnerable people,” he said.
But Ryman will not be a lone voice at VCAT, with council and community opposition to the proposal still strong, and residents’ group Save Reg’s Wedge vowing to continue the legal fight to preserve the 8.9-hectare allotment under green wedge protection. Spokesperson and former shire councillor Leigh Eustace said it was possible the council’s proposed amendment c270, which would provide green wedge protection for the site, would be finalised before the VCAT appeal. Continued Page 18
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