Residents Speak Out as Geelong Council Weighs Precinct Rezoning Decision

Geelong's City Council is facing a sharp backlash from residents ahead of a scheduled vote later this month on proposed rezoning across three growth precincts in the city's north, with locals from Armstrong Creek to Lara describing a consultation process they say ran too fast and delivered too little.

The timing matters. Greater Geelong's population surpassed 300,000 residents in the 2021 census and is tracking toward 400,000 by 2040 according to the Department of Transport and Planning's Victoria in Future projections. That growth pressure has placed the council in the uncomfortable position of approving new residential and mixed-use zoning while infrastructure, schools, roads, drainage, still lags behind. For residents who have already moved into half-built estates, the frustration is visceral.

Packed Meetings, Unanswered Questions

A public information session held at the Corio Norlane Community Hub on June 24 drew more than 80 attendees, roughly double what organisers had expected. Chairs had to be borrowed from a neighbouring room. Residents from suburbs including Norlane, Lara, and the Batesford Road corridor near Lovely Banks said they had received a single letterbox drop and a two-week window to submit formal objections, a timeframe many described as inadequate given the complexity of the 140-page planning amendment document circulated by council officers.

Several attendees raised concerns about traffic load on Patullos Road and the proposed connection to the Geelong Ring Road, pointing to the Lovely Banks estate, where promised roundabout upgrades were still unfunded as of the council's own 2025-26 capital works budget. Others flagged the absence of any committed school site within the rezoned envelope north of Anakie Road, despite new housing capable of delivering an estimated 2,400 dwellings once fully built out.

The Geelong Community Foundation, which has funded place-based engagement initiatives in the Corio-Norlane corridor since 2022, said its own local networks had flagged the consultation gap weeks before the June session. The foundation did not run the council meeting but had separately hosted informal kitchen-table conversations with residents in May, a process that surfaced concerns about green space loss and flood mapping that did not appear prominently in council's formal documentation.

Council's Position and What Comes Next

Council officers maintain that the amendment, known as Amendment C417, met all statutory requirements under the Planning and Environment Act 1987, including a minimum 28-day public exhibition period that ran from May 12 to June 9. A council spokesperson confirmed the matter would go before the full council at its ordinary meeting on July 22 at City Hall on Gheringhap Street.

Community advocacy group Geelong Residents United, which formed during the contentious Waterfront Precinct debates of 2023, lodged a formal submission arguing the council should appoint an independent panel to hear objections before any vote proceeds. The group cited a comparable process used during Ballarat's 2024 Structure Plan review, where a panel process extended community input by six weeks and resulted in 11 modifications to the final amendment.

The rezoning also intersects with commitments made under the Geelong City Deal, the $382.6 million federal and state investment framework signed in 2022, which includes a liveability stream intended to guide growth in ways that preserve community cohesion. Residents in Lara have specifically asked whether the precinct plans align with the City Deal's stated objectives, a question that, so far, council officers have not answered in writing.

Residents wanting to address the July 22 meeting must register as a speaker with the council by July 15. Submissions already lodged during the exhibition period will be tabled in full. Those who missed the formal window can still contact their ward councillors directly or attend the public gallery without registering. The council's planning amendment documents, including the full C417 package, are available at the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre on Little Malop Street and through the council's Engage Geelong portal.