REASONS FOR DECISION TO EXERCISE POWER OF
INTERVENTION
UNDER SECTION 20(4) OF THE PLANNING AND
ENVIRONMENT ACT 1987
SURF COAST PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C94
The Planning and Environment Act 1987 (the Act), the Heritage Act 1995 and the
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 provide for the intervention of the
Minister for Planning in planning and heritage processes.
In exercising my powers of intervention, I have agreed to:

Make publicly available written reasons for each decision; and

Provide a report to Parliament at least every twelve months detailing the nature of
each intervention.
REQUEST FOR INTERVENTION
1.
No person other than the Minister has proposed or requested this intervention.
WHAT POWER OF INTERVENTION IS BEING USED?
1.
I have decided to exercise my powers to exempt myself from all the requirements of
sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the regulations in respect to Amendment C94
to the Surf Coast Planning Scheme.
2.
Section 20(4) of the Act enables the Minister for Planning to exempt an amendment
which the Minister prepares from any of the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19
of the Act or the regulations.
3.
In seeking to exercise this power, section 20(4) of the Act requires that the Minister
must consider that compliance with any of those requirements is not warranted or
that the interests of Victoria or any part of Victoria make such an exemption
appropriate.
BACKGROUND
4.
The Victorian State Government (the government) has a well documented reform
agenda which it has made clear will be implemented by 1 July 2014.
5.
Following significant public consultation from 17 July 2012 to 28 September 2012, the
Reformed Zones Ministerial Advisory Committee considered the views of relevant
agencies in formulating its recommendations on the form and content of the
reformed residential zones. The government’s response to these recommendations
was published in March 2013. Publication of this agenda and timeframe for
implementation has been made available through multiple sources including media
releases, publications on the Department of Transport, Planning and Local
Infrastructure website, and particularly through the implementation of Amendment
V8.
6.
Amendment V8 was gazetted on 1 July 2013 and introduced the Residential Growth
Zone (RGZ), General Residential Zone (GRZ) and Neighbourhood Residential Zone
(NRZ) into the Victoria Planning Provisions. The residential zones have been reformed
to simplify requirements, allow a broader range of activities to be considered and
better manage housing growth.
7.
The reformed residential zones enable planning authorities to better specify strategic
locations where increased densities should be provided and to limit residential change
in areas where they whish to protect neighbourhood character, environmental and
other characteristics. Being able to specify areas that should be protected from
increased residential development mean that attributes that are highly valued by the
community for specific areas and supported by strategic work undertaken by planning
authorities can be given statutory effect in Victorian planning schemes.
8.
Councils have until 1 July 2014 to initiate amendments to convert residential land in
their municipalities to the new reformed residential zones. Where councils have not
finalised an amendment to implement the new residential zones by 1 July 2014, the
General Residential Zone will be implemented to replace all land in the Residential 1
(R1Z), 2 (R2Z) and 3(R3Z) Zones.
9.
The amendment is required to translate the existing R1Z and R2Z land to one of the
reformed residential zones approved by the Minister for Planning. Surf Coast Shire
Council has yet to resolve to request the preparation, adoption and approval of a
tailored amendment to convert to the reformed residential zones by 1 July 2014. It is
expected that Council will consider the conversion to the new residential zones at its
meeting on 27 May 2014. The amendment has been prepared to translate the new
zones in the Surf Coast Planning Scheme.
10. The Surf Coast Planning Scheme contains existing policies that address key
residential land issues in the municipality and reflect the planning outcomes that
council wants to achieve.
11. The GRZ respects and preserves neighbourhood character whilst allowing moderate
housing growth and diversity and is the closest translation of the existing Residential
1 and Residential 2 Zones. Applying the GRZ is consistent with principles and criteria
for applying the residential zones as stated in Planning Practice Note 78 Applying the
Residential Zones, December 2013.
12. The GRZ Schedule 1 is to be applied to land currently in the R1Z in the municipality.
There are no local variations to rescode standards or mandatory heights in the GRZ
Schedule 1.
13. The GRZ Schedule 2 is to be applied to land currently in the R2Z. Schedule 2 includes
a local variation triggering a permit requirement for the construction or extension of
one dwelling on a lot up to 500 square metres in area. This maintains existing
permit triggers in the current R2Z Schedule.
14. The controls in the existing Environmental and Landscape Overlays and Heritage and
Built Form Overlays, including Design and Development Overlays and Neighbourhood
Character Overlays will continue to apply to the rezoned land.
15. As part of this amendment, the notations for commercial zones on the planning
scheme maps will be updated to align with the reformed commercial zones that were
introduced into the Victorian Planning Provisions by Amendment VC100.
16. It is appropriate that planning scheme mapping is updated to reflect the introduction
of the reformed commercial zones when the reformed residential zones are
introduced into the Surf Coast Planning Schemes. This will provide clarity and
consistency with the reformed commercial zones introduced into the VPP by VC100 in
July 2013.
17. Amendment C94 is the first step in implementing the residential zones in the Surf
Coast Planning Scheme. The planning scheme can be further refined through a
further amendment process to update redundant references to superseded zones and
eliminate duplication of provisions and reposition local Rescode variations from
overlay schedules into the schedules to the introduced General Residential Zone.
BENEFITS OF EXEMPTION
18. The main benefit of the exemption is that it will enable a prompt decision to be made
on the adoption and approval of the amendment.
19. Exempting Amendment C94 from the usual public notification and consultation
processes will enable the rezoning of the land to an appropriate reformed residential
zone without delay.
20. The exemption will allow the timely application of the GRZ Schedules to all land in the
R1Z and R2Z under the Surf Coast Planning Scheme. The exemption will allow a local
variation to be included in the GRZ Schedule 2 to translate an existing permit trigger
to achieve built form objectives.
21. The exemption will avoid duplication of the consultation carried out by the Victorian
State Government during its review of Victoria’s planning zones. The focus of the
review was to ensure zones were functioning correctly and their schedules were still
relevant. The review included a 10 week consultation period on the draft residential
zones, which attracted over 900 submissions. Various government departments and
agencies were also consulted about the reformed zones. An advisory committee
reviewed the submissions and provided recommendations on the content and
implementation of the new zones.
EFFECTS OF EXEMPTION ON THIRD PARTIES
22. The effects of exemption of the amendment from notice requirements is that third
parties will not have an opportunity to be formally notified of the amendment, to
make submissions or to have their submissions considered by an independent
Planning Panel.
23. The changes introduced by the amendment are unlikely to have any adverse impacts
on landowners. Placing the amendment on public exhibition, with a potential panel
hearing, is not likely to give rise to a different outcome than proposed by this
amendment given council’s obligation to introduce the reformed residential zone by 1
July 2014.
ASSESSMENT AS TO WHETHER BENEFITS OF EXEMPTIONS OUTWEIGH
EFFECTS ON THIRD PARTIES
24. Substantial consultation occurred during the review of Victoria’s planning zones,
which included draft residential zones. The government has a clear agenda to reform
residential zones as evidenced by the introduction of Amendments V8 and VC100
gazetted on 1 and 15 July 2013 respectively.
25. The reformed zones for Victoria have been approved to better respond to presentday requirements and will give greater clarity about the type of development that can
be expected in any residential area.
26. The amendment will apply the General Residential Zone, as would be applied by
default from 1 July 2014, but enables a local permit trigger variation to be retained in
GRZ Schedule 2.
27. The update to the planning scheme maps to reflect the reformed commercial zones
does not change the zone of the land and provides greater clarity by accurately
showing the zoning changes introduced via Amendment VC100
28. Accordingly I consider that the benefits of exempting myself from sections 17, 18 and
19 of the Act outweigh any effects of the exemption on third parties.
DECISION
29. I have decided to exercise my power to exempt myself from all the requirements of
sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the regulations in respect of Amendment C94
to the Surf Coast Planning Schemes.
REASONS FOR INTERVENTION
30. I provide the following reasons for my decision to exercise my power under section
20(4) of the Act.
31. I am satisfied that Compliance with any of the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the
regulations is not warranted because:

The government has a clear agenda to reform residential zones across all
planning schemes as evidenced by the introduction of Amendment V8,
gazetted on 1 July 2013, and this amendment implements the reforms in the
Surf Coast Planning Scheme.

The changes resulting from the rezoning of land from Residential 1 Zone to
General Residential Zone Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 are relatively modest, so
people's rights to use and develop their land will not be significantly different.

The update to the planning scheme maps to reflect the reformed commercial
zones does not change the zone of the land but provides clarity by accurately
showing the zoning changes introduced via Amendment VC100.
Signed by the Minister
MATTHEW GUY MLC
Minister for Planning
Date: 27 May 2014