A "hot spot" of mine contamination has helped bring a Bendigo subdivision push to a stop.
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Greater Bendigo's council has put the brakes on a two-lot housing subdivision while extra soil testing takes place.
Here's where the land's located:
The council has also told the project's backers to return with designs that better fit neighbourhood character.
Developers want to knock down a house at 4 Hustlers Road and create two homes on the site.
The property is on the same block as the Hustlers Reef Reserve, the place of an old mine famous for a disaster that claimed multiple lives.
The Environmental Protection Authority has asked for more soil testing at 4 Hustlers Road before any decision on remediation works are made.
Council staff raised concerns about a significant tree that would have to go, and designs for the houses' layouts.
They said the homes would be too close to each other to suit what already stands in the street.
Council officers said they would not oppose the house being torn down and a subdivision taking place with the right plan in place.
Cr Julie Sloan backed council officers' concerns and said the current plans failed to meet several objectives in the city's residential code.
Cr Margaret O'Rourke agreed.
"While it's well located its got many attributes for infill [development] ... what's trying to be designed in this application is not suitable," she said.
Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
