After 18 months of talks, Stewart Gull’s Country Club Living was optimistic a $100 million retirement village with golf course and housing estate was going to be approved by Warrnambool councillors.
The report from council recommended Stage One – the 192-villa retirement village – be approved, with further negotiations on the proposed golf course, which would be partly on public open space.
The Warrnambool Local Government Authority has a population of 35,500. Only three objected to Country Club Living’s DA. It was rejected in a vote in 11 minutes.
Country Club Living is considering taking the matter to Victoria’s Planning Minister Lizzie Blandthorn and asking her to intervene and make a decision. Cameron Gull, a director, is also considering taking the DA to the Victoria Civil Administrative Tribunal or resubmitting the application.
"We question if Warrnambool is open for business?" Cameron Gull told The Standard.
The DA was meant to go before council last month but was never brought before council.
The 24ha Warrnambool Shores Country Club, the 11th such development from Country Club Living, was planned to have been sold in stages and completed over seven to 10 years, The Weekly SOURCE reported in March.
The golf course was to be open to the public with the housing estate alongside the retirement living units. The plans allocated 18.5ha to the village itself, including two- and three-bedroom open-plan villas and a community centre.
“Warrnambool Shores Country Club will offer a range of on-site private facilities never seen nor made available to retirees in Warrnambool and the region before,” Stewart (pictured) said at the time.
