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A MASSIVE retirement complex that was earmarked for the gateway to Wine Country was rejected in the Land and Environment Court on Wednesday after it was deemed inconsistent with the location’s character.
Signature Gardens Retirement Resort had sought to build 177 units, 20 apartments, a care facility with 40 rooms and a manager’s residence on 44hectares at Pokolbin before the plan was refused consent by the Hunter and Central Coast Joint Regional Planning Panel last year, the court heard.
The developers appealed that decision, but lost on Wednesday. Commissioner Graham Brown ruled that the $55-million proposal was inconsistent with the location’s setting among the vineyards and farms west of Cessnock.
Cessnock City Council opposed the plan for a number of reasons, including that the land would be lost for future grape-growing and a lack of services for the proposed residents of the complex.
While Commissioner Brown dismissed the appeal because the development was ‘‘uncharacteristic’’ and ‘‘inconsistent’’ with the area, he said the council’s claims that the development would affect the tourist trade was not a sufficient reason to reject the project.
The complex was to be built over 16 stages along Marrowbone and Oakey Creek roads. It was met with fierce opposition from surrounding vineyards.
The initial proposal pitched four years ago was for more than 200 two-bedroom homes as well as the hostel, manager’s residence and other buildings.
Signature Gardens proposed a number of earthworks and landscaping to try to reduce the impact of the development, but Commissioner Brown said he was not satisfied that those works would adequately address those issues.
The owners of the neighbouring vineyards also opposed the length of time the complex would have taken to be built, which could have been up to 10 years.
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