By Jessica Micallef
Macedon Ranges council has deferred making a decision on a planning permit to build a telecommunications facility at Mount Gisborne.
During last Wednesday’s council meeting, councillors voted to defer the application for consideration by no later than the March council meeting.
The proposal presented to councillors included the development of a 17.5-metre high monopole at the summit of Mount Gisborne that overlooks Gisborne and the surrounding locality.
The proposal also stated native vegetation needed to be removed to build the facility.
The proposed tower would replace a previous tower on the site that was “pivotal” in providing voice communications for the CFA in surrounding areas.
However, the tower was destroyed in a storm in July 2019.
Cr Dominic Bonanno said deferring a decision on the application gave the applicant time to provide a report on why the Mount Gisborne site was considered preferable to other sites and to consider additional sites for the location of the proposed telecommunications tower including Mount Aitken, other sites in Gisborne South and less “environmentally sensitive” sites.
“Giving the applicant a bit of time to give us more and better information will help answer our questions,” he said.
“I am a resident in Gisborne South and we are absolutely crying for telecommunications services and you don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it.
“We are in the middle of a black spot. My phone line has gone down so I have no communication at all.
“I understand how the CFA feels when they are in the middle of a fire and they have no communications.
“There are alternative sites, but the idea is to get a win-win situation for our community in Gisborne South. We want a tower. It’s an important issue.”
Cr Mark Ridgeway a new report expressed the council’s desire to see the tower come to fruition but also their concern that the Mount Gisborne site was not the best site for the tower.
“We would like to know for sure all other avenues have been explored and eliminated,” he said.
“Telecommunications is an important issue right across our area.”
