Councillors walk out on meeting to vote on Apollo Bay development
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A rowdy meeting of Colac Otway Council ended in further uproar yesterday when three councillors walked out of the meeting.
The south-west Victorian council was to vote on a controversial golf course and housing development on a flood plain at Apollo Bay.
The Great Ocean Green development has been in the planning for years, and last night's vote was to rezone land to make way for it.
But the vote could not happen because there was no quorum.
Councillor Stuart Hart led the walkout and says the project should never happen.
"Why I'm so vehement against it is because we've had legal advice on insurance and there is no insurance for houses on flood plains," he said.
"When there is a flood event as they happen regularly, and houses are inundated, people are going to look for recompense, and it'll all fall back to the mums and dad ratepayers of the Colac Otway Shire."
Mayor Warren Riches say the issues will now have to be addressed in a special council meeting next week.
"We'll call a special meeting within seven days to attempt to redress the issue and we'll if those councillors are 'A', going to attend the meeting and 'B', whether they're prepared to vote, and if not, we'll deal with it in a different manner," he said.
The meeting also voted against a motion to stop the council continuing with efforts to create a joint public and school library in the town.
The council received a petition of about 1,400 signatures against the plan.
Ray Ensely from the Friends of the Colac LIbrary Group says the fight to stop the closure of the current library will not stop.
"I have the impression that the roughshod attitude from the council, what it will do I think is stimulate more interest from the community and more resistance. That's a hunch I have," he said.
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