title: Amendment C76 - Parwan Agribusiness Industrial Precinct council: moorabool state: vic category: amendment classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf
- msc-minutes-031214-web.pdf
- omc-agenda-010317-sml.pdf
- omc-minutes-010317.pdf
Amendment C76 - Parwan Agribusiness Industrial Precinct
Amendment C76 is a site-specific but strategically significant employment-land amendment at Parwan, south of Bacchus Marsh. Its planning effect is not simply to add industrial land: it relocates the existing Industrial 1 Zone from a constrained northern parcel to a larger southern parcel, links the new industrial land to Development Plan Overlay controls, and leaves unresolved questions about road access, drainage, servicing, odour buffers and the future Parwan Employment Precinct planning framework (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.47-50; Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.34-37).
The amendment became a test case for whether a proponent-led rezoning should proceed ahead of the wider Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework, Precinct Structure Plan and Development Contributions Plan work. Council supported progression to a Planning Panel on 1 March 2017 because submissions could not be resolved through minor changes, but the available corpus does not include the Panel report, adoption report, approval notice or gazettal material (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.59-61).
Background
The proposal began as a request by Urban Design and Management on behalf of L & G Failli to rezone 3922 Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, Parwan from Farming Zone to Industrial 1 Zone and to rezone adjoining land known as PC362391 from Industrial 1 Zone back to Farming Zone (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, p.47). The practical mechanism was a zone swap: the existing industrial-zoned parcel was identified as drainage-constrained, while the larger southern parcel was said to be more capable of development because it was downslope of a proposed retarding basin (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.47-48).
The first council report described PC362391 as approximately 116 hectares and 3922 Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road as approximately 190 hectares, producing a net increase of about 70 to 74 hectares of Industrial 1 zoned land because the replacement industrial parcel was larger than the parcel being back-zoned (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.48, 54). By 2017, the report described the total affected land as 308 hectares, with frontages of 2.28 kilometres to Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, 1.90 kilometres to Nerowie Road and 1.48 kilometres to Parwan South Road (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.34-35).
The land sits about 5.5 kilometres south of the Bacchus Marsh urban area in the 2017 report, while the 2014 report described it as about 7.5 kilometres south of the Bacchus Marsh town centre (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.35; Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, p.48). The surrounding context is operationally important: nearby uses include Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome, Sir Jack Brabham Park speedway, Parwan Recycled Water Plant, Genetics Australia, poultry farming, Parwan Valley Mushroom Farm and agricultural land (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, p.49; Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.35).
Council resolved on 3 December 2014 to support preparation of Amendment C76, request Ministerial authorisation, defer exhibition until additional evidence and servicing information were provided, and require a section 173 agreement for development contributions (Source: msc-minutes-031214-web.pdf, pp.38-39). Ministerial authorisation was granted on 6 February 2015 subject to four conditions, and the amendment was exhibited from 24 November 2016 to 13 January 2017 (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.37).
Analysis
Statutory Mechanism and Land Use Effect
Amendment C76 changes both zoning and local policy. It rezones PC362391Y from Industrial 1 Zone to Farming Zone, rezones 3922 Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road from Farming Zone to Industrial 1 Zone, deletes Development Plan Overlay Schedule 1 from PC362391Y, applies DPO1 to Lots 1 and 2 TP188461, and amends Clauses 21.01, 21.04 and 21.07 to identify the Moorabool Agribusiness Industrial Area in the Bacchus Marsh policy framework (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.35-36).
The statutory issue is that Industrial 1 Zone is a broad industrial control. Council officers accepted that many industrial and warehouse uses could establish without a planning permit if the specified zone conditions were met, which means the amendment could not itself limit all future uses to agribusiness-related activities (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.40-42). This is the central control weakness. The policy story says agribusiness, but the zone mechanism permits a wider industrial field unless the Development Plan Overlay, permit triggers, future precinct controls or environmental regulations narrow the outcome (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.40-42).
The Special Use Zone was raised as a more tailored alternative because a schedule could require permits for higher-amenity-risk uses and prohibit uses inconsistent with the intended precinct role (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.42). Council officers were not opposed to an appropriately drafted Special Use Zone, but the proponents wished to proceed with Industrial 1 Zone and have that position tested through the Panel process (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.42). The planning consequence is that Amendment C76 carried a live statutory-design question into Panel: whether broad industrial flexibility should be accepted before the broader Parwan Employment Precinct planning framework settled its zone architecture (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.39-42).
Relationship to the Wider Parwan Employment Precinct
C76 was not assessed in isolation by 2017. The Victorian Planning Authority advised that it was working with Council on a Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework in response to state policy identifying Bacchus Marsh for significant growth and Parwan for a regionally significant employment hub (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.40). The VPA also advised that future planning for the employment precinct would likely occur at precinct level through a Precinct Structure Plan, with zoning and overlay provisions applied consistently across the precinct if the subject land was included (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.40).
This creates a sequencing tension. C76 would give one landholding an Industrial 1 Zone and DPO framework before the PSP, DCP and final precinct zoning were known (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.40, 59-60). Council officers noted that the broader precinct might ultimately use Special Use Zone, Rural Activity Zone or Urban Growth Zone controls, and that early application of Industrial 1 Zone could allow uses, subdivision density or subdivision pattern that later precinct-wide controls might not favour (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.40).
The amendment therefore functions like an early piece of a bigger jigsaw. If the piece is cut to the same shape as the later PSP, it can accelerate coordinated employment planning. If it is cut differently, later precinct planning has to work around a pre-existing industrial control and any approvals already granted under it (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.40, 59-60).
Industrial Land Supply and Demand
The 2014 report recorded that the Urban Development Program Regional Industrial Report found adequate zoned and serviced industrial land across the Shire for 20 to 30 years, and that no evidence had been provided at that time to demonstrate a shortage by lot size (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, p.54). That early position made the amendment look less like a supply response and more like a spatial correction from a constrained industrial parcel to a more developable parcel (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.52-54).
By 2017, the supply analysis had changed materially. The Moorabool Industrial Areas Strategy 2015 identified approximately 346 hectares of industrial-zoned land, approximately 227 hectares vacant or not used for industrial purposes, and demand increasing from 146 hectares in 2016 to 193 hectares in 2051 (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.42-43). Council’s later review found that only about 107 hectares of industrial-zoned land was available for development once environmental constraints such as steep topography, native vegetation, water features and drainage issues were considered (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.43).
The SGS 2017 update sharpened the issue further. Without C76, revised modelling showed net available industrial land of only 13.3 hectares by 2031 after revised supply assumptions, non-core industrial uses and Melton-related demand were included, and a deficit of 27.9 hectares by 2051 (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.44-45). Including C76 added a net 124 hectares of developable industrial land to the model, based on 147 developable hectares on the proposed Industrial 1 land minus 23 developable hectares on the existing Industrial 1 land (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.44-45).
This is the clearest quantified planning case for C76. The amendment does not just add gross industrial land; on the 2017 modelling it converts a constrained industrial supply position into a materially larger developable supply position, lifting the 2051 net available supply from a deficit of 27.9 hectares to a surplus of 96.1 hectares when C76 is included (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.44-45). The caution is that the same report recognises the need for broader precinct planning, because supply quantity does not resolve transport, servicing, environmental buffers or zone-control precision (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.40, 46-60).
Drainage, Ecology and Cultural Heritage
The original industrial parcel was constrained by stormwater pooling and a proposed large retarding basin, which reduced the amount of usable industrial land and was central to the rationale for moving the Industrial 1 Zone south (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.47-50). The section 173 materials attached to the 2017 agenda define Drainage Works to include a retarding basin on the adjoining land, water sensitive urban design treatments to drainage lines leading to and from the basin, stormwater or treated wastewater reuse infrastructure, and any other drainage works required by a planning permit (Source: omc-agenda-010317-sml.pdf, pp.90-92).
Environmental constraints are also embedded in the land itself. The 2014 report identified four habitat zones: Remnant Plains Woodland on Nerowie Road, a Plains Grassland patch with potential habitat for Golden Sun Moth and Striped Legless Lizard, Lignum Swamp associated with Binghams Swamp, and a smaller Lignum Swamp near Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, p.49). The DPO mechanism was expected to require ecological assessment and habitat management for Binghams Swamp and other retained habitat zones (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.58-59).
The cultural heritage constraint is not optional. The 2014 report records previously identified Aboriginal sites within the subject land, stone flake artefacts on the northern site, and an expectation that similar artefacts may be found on the southern site (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, p.49). Council reported that a mandatory Cultural Heritage Management Plan would be required under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 before permits were issued if the amendment proceeded (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, p.49).
Transport and Freight Dependencies
Transport is the main operational dependency. DEDJTR, Public Transport Victoria and VicRoads considered the 2014 Traffic Engineering Assessment inadequate because it did not demonstrate the capacity of the existing transport network, did not deal properly with the eastern bypass road, and did not quantify likely vehicle types, volumes and trip distribution (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.46-48). VicRoads also advised that committed safety works on Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, including centreline wire rope barrier and a new roundabout at Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, Glenmore Road and Nerowie Road, meant a fully directional internal-street intersection would not be approved and future access would be restricted to left-in/left-out movements (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.47-48).
Council’s Infrastructure Department reframed the traffic task from marginal change to whole-site impact. It advised that the assessment should be based on the full proposed industrial area, not only the net increase above the previous industrial zoning, because there was no activity on the site at the time (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.48). Using about 150 hectares of developable land, deducting 25 percent for infrastructure, and assuming 40 percent traffic-generating gross floor area, Council estimated 44 hectares of traffic-generating floor area (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.48). At 3 vehicles per day per 100 square metres of gross floor area, this produced an estimated 13,000 vehicles per day and 1,300 peak-hour vehicles, with heavy vehicles assumed to be at least 10 percent (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.48-49).
The scale of that estimate matters because the most recent traffic count on Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road was 5,700 vehicles per day, so full development would represent a trebling of traffic load on the surrounding road network (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.49). Even with an even three-way distribution, Council estimated that more than 4,000 additional vehicles per day would need to move through central Bacchus Marsh to and from the Western Freeway, and more than 4,000 would move to and from the east via Woolpack Road and Nerowie Road (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.49). The identified likely upgrade locations included Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road/Woolpack Road, Avenue of Honour/Woolpack Road and Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road/Nerowie Road, all under VicRoads jurisdiction (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.49).
The eastern bypass road is therefore not a background preference; it is the strategic access release valve. DEDJTR stated that an eastern bypass was required for growth management, reducing congestion in Gisborne Road and Grant Street, reducing freight movements in the town centre, and serving planned future residential land releases (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.47). The DPO was recommended to require an Integrated Traffic Management Plan identifying infrastructure and trigger points for both interim conditions before a bypass and ultimate conditions after a bypass (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.48).
Infrastructure Funding and Section 173 Risk
The 2014 report was explicit that the initial Servicing Report lacked costing, timing, delivery responsibility and funding mechanisms for water, gas, roads, drainage and other services (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.49-50). Council therefore required an amended servicing report and a section 173 agreement so that infrastructure costs did not default to Council (Source: msc-minutes-031214-web.pdf, pp.38-39).
By 2017, the exhibited arrangement used section 173 agreements rather than a formal Development Contributions Plan. The attached agreement required a Development Infrastructure Levy of $2,631.58 per hectare, indexed by CPI, for General Infrastructure Works, while separately requiring drainage works and infrastructure projects as needed (Source: omc-agenda-010317-sml.pdf, pp.90-101). The agreement defined General Infrastructure Works as a north-south bypass road corridor study east of Bacchus Marsh or road works to improve north-south freight movement through or around Bacchus Marsh (Source: omc-agenda-010317-sml.pdf, pp.91-92).
The funding concern raised in submissions was that a 500,000 contribution, equal to 2,631.58 per hectare, was low compared with recommended standard levies of 63,000 per net developable hectare for non-metropolitan industrial or employment land and 80,000 per net developable hectare for metropolitan industrial or employment land (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.52-53). Council’s response was that the $500,000 figure had been negotiated and that a future DCP or Infrastructure Contributions Plan for the Parwan Employment Precinct would supersede the section 173 levy for undeveloped land to which the levy had not already applied (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.50-53).
This is a major unresolved mechanism. The section 173 agreement can bind owners to site-specific works, drainage and a modest general infrastructure levy, but it does not substitute for a precinct-wide DCP that prices and apportions the cumulative road, drainage and servicing burden across all benefiting land (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.50-53, 59-60). Council identified financial risk from inadequate external infrastructure funding as high, with the control being completion of the Bacchus Marsh UGF and a DCP for the Parwan Employment Precinct (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.60).
Amenity, Odour and Interface Management
The amendment’s amenity problem is cumulative. The subject land is near the Parwan Recycled Water Plant and other odour-generating or sensitive rural activities, while the proposed industrial land could include an abattoir, rendering plant, manufacturing, sales, storage and distribution (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.53-55). EPA advised that separation distances would depend on the scale and intensity of uses and would need assessment under EPA Publication 1518 for residual air emissions and EPA Publication 1411 for regional industrial noise (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.53-54).
Western Water supported the amendment subject to buffers around the Parwan Recycled Water Plant, consistency with EPA separation-distance guidance, protection of current and future plant operation, odour assessment for odour-generating uses, and recognition that multiple odour sources may require larger buffers (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.54-55). Western Water also advised that it had limited water and sewer infrastructure in the area and that agreement would be required for water and sewer connections, allowable discharges and potable water offtakes (Source: omc-agenda-010317-sml.pdf, pp.125-127).
Council recommended adding a Parwan Recycled Water Plant Impact Assessment Report to the DPO, prepared with Western Water and EPA, including an odour assessment for the abattoir and rendering plant and buffers around the RWP, abattoir and rendering plant (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.55-56). The limitation remains that DPO assessment occurs before exact future uses are known, and Industrial 1 Zone may allow some uses without a planning permit, limiting later assessment of air, noise and contamination policy unless another statutory trigger applies (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.55-57).
Aerodrome and Pipeline Interfaces
Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome sits west of the subject site, with the closest runway about 1.3 kilometres away (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.58). CASA advised that the aerodrome was an Aeroplane Landing Area rather than a regulated aerodrome subject to CASA oversight, and Council recommended deleting reference to CASA from DPO1 (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.58). CASA nevertheless raised a duty-of-care issue because the approach to runway 27 and take-off from runway 09 pass directly over the site, creating a need to understand potential aircraft and wildlife interaction (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.58).
Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome Management Inc. advised that the amendment would move industrial development further from the aerodrome and away from the flight path of powered aircraft landing on runway 27, which was described as the most heavily used runway (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.58). Council concluded that the amendment and ultimate industrial development were likely to reduce aircraft risk, subject to ecological and habitat management not increasing bird numbers or movements (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.58-59).
APA also identified a high-pressure gas transmission pipeline near 3922 Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, with a measurement length of 160 metres either side of the Brooklyn to Ballan pipeline (Source: omc-agenda-010317-sml.pdf, p.115). APA did not object because no defined sensitive uses appeared to be located within that measurement length, but requested further consultation if higher-density residential outcomes or listed sensitive uses were introduced within 160 metres of the pipeline (Source: omc-agenda-010317-sml.pdf, p.115).
Current Status
The latest decision in the available corpus is Council’s 1 March 2017 resolution to request the Minister for Planning to appoint a Planning Panel under Part 8 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987, refer Amendment C76 and submissions to that Panel, and adopt Council’s position on submissions as set out in the officer table (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.60-61). The amendment had been authorised on 6 February 2015 and exhibited from 24 November 2016 to 13 January 2017 (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.37).
The corpus does not show whether the Panel supported the amendment, whether Council adopted it after Panel, whether the Minister approved it, or whether it was gazetted. Status should therefore be treated as in-progress as at the latest source date, with final statutory outcome unknown from the supplied documents (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.60-61).
Dependencies
- Blocks: Final statutory certainty for the C76 land and any coordinated first-stage industrial subdivision, because unresolved submissions required referral to a Planning Panel rather than minor amendment changes (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.59-61).
- Blocked by: Panel process, Ministerial approval, traffic-network planning, servicing agreements, drainage works, CHMP completion, odour and buffer assessment, and the unresolved relationship with the broader Bacchus Marsh UGF and Parwan Employment Precinct PSP/DCP work (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.49-50; Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.40, 48-60).
- Informed by: Traffix Traffic Engineering Assessment, Terra Culture Cultural Heritage Desktop Assessment, Paul Kelly and Associates Ecological Features and Constraints Preliminary Assessment, Urban Design and Management Servicing and Planning Reports, Moorabool Industrial Areas Strategy 2015, SGS MIAS Update January 2017, CBRE Agribusiness Analysis for the proposed Parwan Employment Precinct, agency submissions and section 173 agreements (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.47-50; Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.37, 42-45).
- Implements: Central Highlands Regional Growth Plan directions for Bacchus Marsh and Parwan, local economic development policy in Clauses 21.03 and 21.04, and the Council Plan objective to investigate employment zones and agricultural value-adding industries (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.52-58; Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.38-39, 59).
- Conflicts with: The timing of broader precinct planning, because C76 advances a site-specific Industrial 1 Zone before final PSP, DCP and precinct-wide zoning choices for the Parwan Employment Precinct are settled (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.39-42, 59-60).
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
The amendment depends on state and regional actors rather than only Moorabool Shire. The VPA was preparing the Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework with Council and expected any wider Parwan employment area to proceed through precinct-level PSP planning (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, p.40). VicRoads, Public Transport Victoria and DEDJTR treated the eastern bypass road and arterial-road upgrades as necessary transport questions for the precinct, with VicRoads seeking funding for an eastern bypass corridor study and controlling key intersections on the wider network (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.46-49).
Water and environmental governance is also cross-agency. Western Water’s Parwan Recycled Water Plant sets a buffer and servicing constraint, while EPA guidance controls separation distances, noise and works approval requirements for the proposed abattoir and rendering plant (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.53-57). APA’s Brooklyn to Ballan pipeline introduces a 160 metre measurement-length consideration for sensitive uses near the pipeline (Source: omc-agenda-010317-sml.pdf, p.115). The eastern demand assumption in the SGS update also links Moorabool industrial land planning to growth in the City of Melton, because the update tested a 10 percent increase in Moorabool industrial land take-up associated with Melton’s expansion (Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.43-45).
Gaps in This Analysis
This page is limited by the source set. The corpus includes the 2014 initiation report, the 2014 minutes, the 2017 submissions report, the 2017 minutes, exhibited section 173 material and summarized submissions, but it does not include the full technical reports, full exhibited amendment documents, Panel report, Council adoption report, Ministerial approval decision or gazettal notice (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.47-50; Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.37, 60-61).
The largest analytical gaps are: the Traffix traffic assessment and any revised traffic assessment; the Urban Design and Management servicing and development contributions reports; the Terra Culture cultural heritage assessment and final CHMP; the Paul Kelly ecological assessment and targeted species surveys; the Western Water odour study and any Environmental Significance Overlay work; the Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework; the Parwan Employment Precinct PSP and DCP or ICP; and the Planning Panel report for Amendment C76 (Source: msc-agenda-031214-pdf-web.pdf, pp.47-50; Source: omc-minutes-010317.pdf, pp.40, 46-60). Without those documents, this page can identify the planning mechanisms and quantified risks raised by Council and agencies, but it cannot confirm final infrastructure costs, final road triggers, approved buffer distances, developable-area takeouts, biodiversity offsets, cultural heritage conditions or the amendment’s final statutory outcome.