title: Amendment C103moor - Hopetoun Park North council: moorabool state: vic category: amendment classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf
- web-research-L0-moorabool-c103moor-corrections-panel-report-d2b8db4c0c.txt
Amendment C103moor - Hopetoun Park North
Amendment C103moor is a major greenfield residential amendment for 62 hectares at Hopetoun Park North, intended to enable about 400 lower-density residential lots with new open space, community facilities, conservation reserves and transport works (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.7). Its practical effect is not simply a rezoning from Farming Zone to residential use: it replaces rural and landscape controls with a layered statutory package of NRZ8, DPO7, DDO17 and ESO7 that uses lot-size, setback, development-plan, biodiversity, drainage and bushfire mechanisms to manage a sensitive plateau edge adjoining the Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District, existing low-density housing and the Western Freeway corridor (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.11-16).
The Panel supported the Amendment subject to its preferred versions of DPO7 and DDO17, with later corrections to reinstate DDO17 Table 2 and fix DPO7 drafting errors relating to development-plan and integrated water-management wording (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.1, 26, 60-69). The key planning issue is therefore no longer whether Hopetoun Park North has a strategic role for residential growth, but whether the statutory controls, infrastructure agreements and later permit-stage approvals are strong enough to translate that role into a managed settlement edge (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.24-26).
Background
The land is at 124 and 150 Hopetoun Park Road and parts of Cowans Road lots, bounded by the Western Freeway reservation to the north, Hopetoun Park Road to the east, existing low-density residential development to the south and the escarpment edge to the west (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.11-12). The western edge is materially important because the escarpment drops about 50 metres toward the Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District and Pyrites Creek, creating both a visual interface and a physical separation from irrigated agricultural land (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.11, 27).
The strategic basis was established before C103moor through the Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework, which identified Hopetoun Park North as one of three residential growth areas for Bacchus Marsh alongside the larger Merrimu and Parwan Station precincts (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.17-18). Amendment C81moor implemented that framework into the planning scheme on 6 December 2018 and the earlier Panel supported either the Neighbourhood Residential Zone or Low Density Residential Zone with a Development Plan Overlay to manage future form, lot size and interface issues (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.18).
C103moor originally contemplated land on both sides of Hopetoun Park Road, with about 850 lots split between roughly 400 lots west of Hopetoun Park Road and 450 lots east of it (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.18). Environmental constraints identified between October 2021 and October 2022 led to the eastern land being removed from the Amendment, although a reduced 200-lot assumption for that eastern land was retained for infrastructure planning and the proponent did not reduce the package of community and development infrastructure (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.18-19).
The Amendment was authorised on 27 November 2024, exhibited from 21 March to 4 May 2025, received 32 submissions including 19 opposed in full or part, and proceeded to a Panel hearing held over 29 September to 3 October 2025 (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.6). Government agency submissions came from Heritage Victoria, Agriculture Victoria, DEECA, Melbourne Water and DTP, with most agency drafting issues resolved through revised DPO7 and DDO17 versions (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.21).
Analysis
Statutory Mechanism and Settlement Form
The Amendment rezones about 62 hectares from Farming Zone to Neighbourhood Residential Zone Schedule 8, applies Development Plan Overlay Schedule 7, Design and Development Overlay Schedule 17 and Environmental Significance Overlay Schedule 7, and deletes Significant Landscape Overlay Schedule 1 and Design and Development Overlay Schedule 2 (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.11). That structure matters because NRZ8 sets the residential zone platform, DPO7 controls the sequencing and whole-of-precinct design response before permits, DDO17 controls dwelling siting and fencing, and ESO7 protects mapped biodiversity areas (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.13-16, 68-69).
The Panel distinguished “lower density residential” from “low density residential”, finding that the Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework identifies the land for lower-density growth rather than requiring the Low Density Residential Zone (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.8, 25). The mechanism is a hybrid: Area C can use 800 square metre minimum lots, while Areas A and B require 1,500 square metre minimum lots with 30 metre frontages to soften the escarpment and southern interfaces (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.14, 25, 62).
This means the statutory design is not a conventional compact growth-area model. It accepts a lower lot yield to manage landscape, bushfire, biodiversity and existing-residential interfaces, while still contributing about 400 dwellings toward Moorabool’s stated 20,000 new-dwelling target by 2051 (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.26). The Panel treated the strategic question of whether urban development should occur as settled by BMUGF and C81moor, leaving C103moor to resolve the form, staging and conditions of that development (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.24-26).
Land, Interface and Yield Controls
Area A is the western escarpment interface, where the Panel supported a minimum 47.3 metre setback from the top of the escarpment to new dwellings, made up through a 20 metre linear reserve, road interface and dwelling setbacks (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.32-37). The planning mechanism is simple but important: rather than rely only on private lot controls, DPO7 requires a public linear escarpment reserve with a shared path and revegetation strip, while DDO17 then regulates setbacks and fencing on the adjoining lots (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.63, 68-69).
The Panel found that the escarpment interface needed careful treatment because it is connected to cultural heritage investigation, remnant vegetation, views across Bacchus Marsh, and potential impacts on dwellings below the escarpment in the irrigation district (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.34). It rejected a high paling fence along this edge because that would undermine the open landscape character and passive surveillance of the public linear reserve (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.34).
Area B is the southern interface with the existing Hopetoun Park low-density residential estate, which contains 264 dwellings on lots ranging from 4,000 to 13,000 square metres (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.12). The Panel accepted 1,500 square metre lots as a transition rather than requiring LDRZ-scale lots, relying on the 20 metre rear dwelling setback and a 5 metre southern landscape buffer that must remain free of outbuildings (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.38-41, 68-69).
The most fragile land-control issue is ownership at the western interface. Some escarpment-related land is not controlled by the main proponent, so the Panel preferred an interim mechanism requiring rural-style fencing and planting on west-facing lots within 100 metres of the western boundary until the full western escarpment interface road is delivered (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.35-37, 60-61). This avoids sterilising lots while still preventing a hard suburban rear-fence edge against land that is intended to become the public escarpment interface (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.36-37).
Infrastructure, Open Space and Contributions
The Amendment is not supported by a Development Contributions Plan, so infrastructure delivery depends on section 173 agreements and works-in-kind obligations rather than a statutory DCP levy schedule (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.16). The proponent’s package includes a 2 hectare active open-space park, construction of active recreation facilities, a netball-court cash contribution, land and partial construction funding for kindergarten, maternal and child health and community-room facilities, a Community Infrastructure Levy of $1,253 per dwelling in 2022 dollars, the Old Western Highway and Hopetoun Park Road upgrade, a shared path to Cowans Road, a 0.76 hectare neighbourhood park, landscaping and the western escarpment linear reserve (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.16).
The open-space numbers are unusually high for a 62 hectare lower-density amendment. The Panel recorded active open space at 3.5 per cent of the site, passive open space at 3.3 per cent and linear reserves at 4 per cent, producing total open space of 10.8 per cent compared with the conventional Clause 53.01 maximum of 5 per cent where no local amount is specified (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.48-49). The practical effect is that C103moor is expected to provide facilities not only for future residents but also for existing Hopetoun Park residents, because the Panel recorded that Hopetoun Park currently lacks community infrastructure (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.49).
Water, sewer and drainage remain permit-stage dependencies rather than fully quantified infrastructure commitments in the Panel Report. Council submitted that water and sewerage would require approvals from the network operator and any required augmentations, while the Panel accepted that the land could be developed with required water, drainage and sewerage infrastructure provided through agreements with relevant authorities (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.48-49). DPO7 partly closes this gap by requiring a development sequencing plan with evidence that reticulated water and sewerage can be provided, and by requiring demonstration of cost-effective provision of water, sewerage, drainage, telecommunications, public transport and roads (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.63-64).
Stormwater is a binding design issue because runoff ultimately relates to the escarpment, Pyrites Creek and the Werribee River system (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.48, 51). DPO7 requires the Integrated Water Management Plan to be generally in accordance with the Afflux Stormwater Management Plan, include water-quality assets, stormwater discharge and outlet design, sediment minimisation, climate-change sensitivity analysis, a Stormwater Management Strategy and a Wetland/Retarding Basin Management Plan addressing water quality, erosion, flow regime changes and biodiversity risks to Pyrites Creek and the Werribee River (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.64-65).
Transport and Access Dependencies
Transport assessment changed materially during the Panel process because the original broader growth area and 850-lot assumption had supported a Western Freeway eastbound on-ramp roundabout, while the reduced 400-lot amendment area and 600-lot broader assessment led the proponent’s traffic expert and Head, Transport for Victoria to conclude that the roundabout was not required (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.19, 45-47). Head, TfV accepted that the Western Freeway on-ramp intersection performed within acceptable limits at full build-out under the proposed NRZ densities, but required further assessment for development beyond 400 lots because the intersection remains uncontrolled (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.45-46).
The Old Western Highway and Hopetoun Park Road intersection remains the critical external road work. The Panel recorded that all parties supported its upgrade, with Head, TfV pointing to four crashes between 2015 and 2019 and the need to address safety risks from additional development traffic (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.43). Although the traffic evidence found the intersection would operate within acceptable capacity after development, the proponent agreed to deliver the works and the Panel supported a trigger before the Statement of Compliance creating the 350th residential lot (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.44-47).
The transport mechanism is therefore staged and contractual. DPO7 requires a section 173 agreement before approval of the Development Plan for the shared path to Cowans Road and the Old Western Highway/Hopetoun Park Road intersection upgrade, with the shared path linked to subdivision abutting the north-west boundary and the intersection upgrade linked to the 350th residential lot unless otherwise agreed (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.61-62). This timing matters because it secures the state-road interface before detailed subdivision approvals, while still allowing early stages to proceed before the main external intersection upgrade is built (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.44-45, 61-62).
The area has no planned public transport services because of its location, so safe and efficient access to the arterial road network is central to connectivity for residents (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.44). That lack of public transport means the Amendment’s transport performance is highly dependent on road access, internal walk/cycle links and the shared path network rather than mode shift to bus services (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.44, 64).
Environmental, Cultural Heritage and Bushfire Controls
The biodiversity mechanism is a combination of land reservation, ESO7 and DPO7 management plans. The Panel recorded that up to 6 hectares of conservation reserve would protect significant native vegetation, including Grey Box Woodland near Hopetoun Park Road, and supported applying ESO7 to mapped biodiversity areas (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.14-15, 50-51). DPO7 requires habitat assessment and, if required, targeted survey for the Victorian Grassland Earless Dragon, targeted surveys for Diamond Firetail, Matted Flax-lily, Striped Legless Lizard and Tussock Skink across Plains Grassland and Open Woodland, and an arboriculture assessment for retained trees (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.65).
The Panel treated cultural heritage as appropriately addressed for the amendment stage but not resolved for subdivision. Clarkeology’s preliminary assessment identified one Aboriginal cultural heritage place and found a Cultural Heritage Management Plan was not required for rezoning, while Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation identified that a CHMP would be required for subdivision and requested avoidance of culturally sensitive areas (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.28-30). The Panel recommended deleting Council’s proposed Cultural Values Assessment requirement from DPO7, finding it would add little beyond the preliminary assessment and risk duplicating the Aboriginal Heritage Act process, although a voluntary CHMP before the development plan would be prudent (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.30).
Bushfire is managed through DPO7 and DDO17 rather than the Bushfire Management Overlay, because the land is in a Bushfire Prone Area but does not have the BMO applied (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.52). DPO7 requires a Bushfire Mitigation and Management Plan generally in accordance with the South Coast Bushfire Consultants assessment, including subdivision design so future development is not exposed to radiant heat above 12.5kW/m2, perimeter roads along the Western Freeway, western escarpment and woodland conservation reserve interfaces, and specified setback distances for grassland, woodland and escarpment hazards (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.65-66).
Panel Corrections and Statutory Drafting Risk
After the Panel Report was issued on 14 November 2025, Council emailed Planning Panels Victoria on 18 December 2025 identifying three drafting issues: DDO17 referred to Table 2 but omitted it, DPO7 split one development-plan dot point into two, and DPO7 retained duplicate or inconsistent wastewater-management wording (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.1). The Panel accepted that DDO17 Table 2 had been omitted inadvertently, that the DPO7 dot points should be combined, and that the second wastewater-management strategy reference should be deleted from the Integrated Water Management Plan clause (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.1).
This correction is not a minor typographical issue in planning-effect terms. DDO17 Table 2 is part of how bushfire setbacks are read with the permit exemption for buildings and works, and DPO7 integrated-water wording affects what must be resolved before development-plan approval (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.1, 64-69). The corrected report dated 19 December 2025 incorporated these changes, and the correction note required Council to notify submitters because the 14 November 2025 report had already been made public (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.1).
Current Status
As at the 8 January 2026 correction report, the Panel had recommended that Council adopt Amendment C103moor in accordance with the Panel-preferred DPO7 and DDO17, as corrected (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.1, 26). The Panel Report states that the planning authority must consider the report before deciding whether to adopt the Amendment, and that the Amendment must then be sent to the Minister for Planning for approval before it can formally change the planning scheme (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, introductory note).
The available source set does not include a Council adoption resolution, Ministerial approval decision or gazettal notice. On the documents provided, the most defensible status is therefore post-Panel and awaiting, or dependent on, Council and Ministerial decisions rather than approved (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, introductory note; Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.1).
Dependencies
- Blocks: Residential subdivision of the 62 hectare Hopetoun Park North land cannot proceed in the intended form until the amendment controls are adopted, approved and gazetted, and subsequent development-plan and subdivision approvals are obtained (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.11, 60-64).
- Blocked by: Final statutory approval, corrected DPO7 and DDO17 drafting, section 173 agreements for infrastructure contributions and transport works, water/sewer authority approvals, an Integrated Water Management Plan, an Integrated Transport Management Plan, a Biodiversity Conservation Management Plan and a Bushfire Mitigation and Management Plan (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.60-66).
- Informed by: The Panel lists supporting reports covering landscape and visual amenity, infrastructure needs and contributions, community and recreation needs, retail needs, housing demand, flora and fauna, open space, bushfire, Aboriginal cultural heritage, contamination, stormwater, traffic, geotechnical conditions, geomorphology, traffic noise, servicing, agricultural interface and extractive industry advice (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.16-17).
- Implements: The Amendment implements the Hopetoun Park North residential-growth direction in the Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework and the policy framework introduced through Amendment C81moor (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.17-18, 24-26).
- Conflicts with: The main tensions are the loss of Farming Zone land, interface with the Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District, traffic reliance in an area without planned public transport, biodiversity protection near Hopetoun Park Road and the Werribee River system, and community concerns about compatibility with existing low-density residential character (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.21-22, 27, 38-51).
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
The Amendment has a direct state-agency interface because Head, Transport for Victoria is responsible for the Western Freeway and arterial-road issues, and the Panel gave substantial weight to Head, TfV’s acceptance that the Western Freeway roundabout was not required under the reduced yield scenario (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.45-47). The Old Western Highway/Hopetoun Park Road works also require delivery to the satisfaction of Head, TfV and the responsible authority through a section 173 agreement (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.61-62).
The waterway and drainage pathway links the site to Pyrites Creek and the Werribee River, making Melbourne Water’s role and the DPO7 wetland/retarding basin requirements important beyond the immediate subdivision boundary (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.50-51, 64-65). The western interface also links the amendment to the Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District, where the Panel relied on elevation and separation distances to find that agricultural operations would not unacceptably affect future residents (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.27).
Gaps in This Analysis
This page is constrained by the source set. The manifest provides the corrected Panel Report and a duplicate web-research capture of the same PDF, but not the Council meeting report adopting or rejecting the Panel recommendations, the final approved amendment ordinance, any Ministerial decision, or a gazettal notice (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, introductory note; Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, p.1). Those missing documents limit certainty about current statutory status and should be treated as a critical gap for _gaps.
The Panel Report lists many technical reports but the corpus for this compilation does not provide their full text, including the SALT and Traffix traffic reports, Afflux stormwater plan, Nature Advisory flora and fauna work, South Coast bushfire assessment, Clarkeology cultural heritage assessment, Urban Enterprise infrastructure analysis, and Millar Merrigan servicing review (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.16-17). Because those primary technical reports are absent, this page can explain the Panel-tested mechanisms and key numbers, but it cannot independently quantify detailed drainage volumes, water/sewer augmentation costs, intersection modelling outputs, biodiversity offset requirements or per-item infrastructure costs beyond what the Panel Report records (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.43-49, 64-66).
A further gap is the absence of the exhibited amendment package and all 32 submissions. The Panel Report identifies submission themes and agency positions, but the source set does not allow a full submission matrix by submitter type, issue frequency beyond the Panel’s categories, or exact changes sought by each affected resident or agency (Source: moorabool-c103moor-corrections-report.pdf, pp.21-22).
Final Statutory Evidence Guardrail
For production advice, this page must distinguish Panel support from operative planning-scheme law. Unless final Council adoption, Ministerial approval and gazettal are cited on the page, the status remains post-Panel/final statutory evidence missing rather than approved.