VOLUME 1 Dals Surfcoast Landscape Assessment Review Report FINAL 041120
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Distinctive Areas & Landscapes Surf Coast Landscape Assessment Review Volume 1 For the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning Final Document: Final February2020 Acknowledgements Victoria has an ancient and proud Aboriginal history. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land described in this report, and offer our respect to the past and present Elders, and through them to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Thank you to Jonathon Christie (B. Vis. Com. Des.) for his assistance with GIS mapping and background research for this project. ã Claire Scott Planning 2020 This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Cover image: Breamlea Beach, Claire Scott. Contents Introduction 1 This Report 2 Part 1: Landscape Character Determining Landscape Character 4 Background & Context 5 GIS Mapping & Analysis 2003 Landscape Types & Areas 10 2019 Landscape Types & Areas 16 Landscape Types & Areas Papers Western Plains, Cones and Lakes (1.1 – 1.6) 31 1.2 Mount Duneed Volcanic Plain 32 Otway Foothills, Valleys and Uplands (2.1 – 2.7) 37 2.7 Torquay Coast and Hinterland 38 Otway Forests and Coast (4.1 – 4.4) 43 4.3 Dry Coastal Woodland and Heath 44 4.4 Low Coastal Heath 49 Localised Flatlands (5.1 – 5.2) 54 5.1 Coastal Saltmarshes 55 Coastal Cliffs and Dunes (6.1 – 6.3) 60 6.1 Point Impossible Coastal Dunes 61 Part 2: Landscape Significance Determining Landscape Significance 67 Defining Significance Views 70 Background & Context 72 Landscapes of Significance 74 Bells Beach to Point Addis 76 Visual landscape assessment 78 Significant viewing locations 80 Other landscape values 86 Torquay Coast, Coastal Saltmarshes & Woodland 88 Visual landscape assessment 90 Significant viewing locations 92 Other landscape values 96 Mount Duneed Plain and Surrounds 97 Visual landscape assessment 99 Other landscape values 100 Part 3: Townships & the Landscape Townships & the Landscape 102 Torquay – Jan Juc 103 Summary of findings table 109 Township-to-Landscape Elements: A deeper dive 111 Bellbrae 113 Summary of findings table 115 Bells Beach 116 Summary of findings table 119 Mount Duneed & Connewarre LDRZ Areas 121 Summary of findings table 124 Addendum Spring Creek UGZ1 Area 126 Armstrong Creek Interface 129 Background Documents Review Summary 131 Introduction The Victorian Government has amended the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to recognise and protect Victoria’s most cherished and important landscapes under the new Distinctive Areas and Landscapes (2018) Amendment. An outcome of this legislation is the requirement to prepare Statements of Planning Policy (formerly known as Localised Planning Statements) for these identified areas, which will be included as policy documents in the Victoria Planning Provisions at Clause 11.03-5S. Statements of Planning Policy are state policies for protecting and enhancing the valued attributes of distinctive areas that are vital to the functioning of Melbourne and regional Victoria. The declared areas have significant landscape, biodiversity, tourism, cultural and other assets, and because of these qualities and their proximity to Melbourne, they are experiencing increasing pressure for growth and change. This Surf Coast Landscape Assessment Review (Volume 1) is a key input to the Statement of Planning Policy that is required for the Surf Coast Declared Area. The Landscape Assessment Review updates the landscape characterisation work undertaken as part of the Great Ocean Road Region Landscape Assessment Study (2003) and the Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment Study (2006); identifies the most significant landscapes and views; evaluates the key townships and their relationship to the broader natural landscape; and recommends how the findings of the review are best translated into the future Surf Coast Statement of Planning Policy. Recommendations are further detailed and justified in the Statutory Implementation Package, also prepared by Claire Scott Planning. Surf Coast Landscape Assessment Review Volume 1 1 This Report • A list of the townships and settlements within the Landscape summary table of the key findings for each, and concludes with the Area. landscape character ‘essence’ of each settlement area, and how that This report, the Surf Coast Landscape Assessment Review (Volume 1), should be translated into policy. comprises three parts, as follows: • A list and description of the key viewing locations. More detail on the methodology employed for Part 3 of this study • An outline of the applicable planning scheme policies and is outlined on p. 102. controls that apply to the landscape. Surf Coast Landscape Assessment Review (Volume 1) Field surveys • Part 1: Landscape Character The key landscape policy recommendations for inclusion in the Surf Coast Statement of Planning Policy (SPP). The field surveys for the determination of landscape character and Part 2: Landscape Significance significance were conducted in early August, mid-September and Maps and photos provide further detail for each Landscape Area. Part 3: Townships and the Landscape early and mid-October 2019. The weather was wet to partly The Landscape Areas are grouped according to their relevant cloudy/sunny, with temperatures between 12 - 20 degrees, and Landscape Type, which are also described in detail by way of an light winds. introduction. Part 1: Landscape Character The late winter and early/mid-spring fieldwork revealed a lush and green landscape, with spring growth not yet dried out by scorching The updated Landscape Types and Landscape Areas for the Surf Part 2: Landscape Significance summer conditions. Coast Declared Area are documented in Part 1 of this report. The Part 2 of this report includes a full assessment of the visual numbering system employed by the Great Ocean Road Landscape significance of the landscapes within the Declared Area. Other In February 2019, surveys undertaken prior to this study as part of Assessment Study (and the Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment Study) landscape values are also outlined, and a final overall significance Stage 1 (Scoping), and the landscape was dry and golden. has been retained for continued integration with previous and level is determined and noted for the landscapes. Significant This contrast in colours, texture and vegetation across the field subsequent statewide work. viewing locations are also documented in this section of the report, survey work undertaken throughout the whole project highlights and the views assessed for their level of significance. The Landscape Types and Areas have been mapped over various the changing and amorphous nature of landscapes. GIS layers including geology, topography (contours), More detail on the methodology used for the determination of Surveys were undertaken from publicly accessible roads. vegetation/EVCs, and aerial imagery to further illustrate, explain landscape significance is included on p. 67-71. and justify their updated locations and boundaries. It should be noted that the significance areas are necessarily Each defined Landscape Area is also documented in detail in a nebulous at this stage of the process. The final significance area series of ‘Landscape Area Papers’, including the following material: boundaries are detailed in the Statutory Implementation Package: • An updated description. Volume 2 (Claire Scott Planning, September 2020). • A list of the key landscape features. Part 3: Townships and the Landscape • An explanation of the landscape character elements including The third part of this report pertains to townships or settlement geology and landform, waterform, vegetation, and land use and areas, and their relationship to the natural landscape. It includes an built form. updated and more detailed description of the townships, a Surf Coast Landscape Assessment Review Volume 1 2 Part 1: Landscape Character Assessment Review Surf Coast Landscape Surf Coast Landscape Assessment Review Volume 1 3 Determining Landscape Character GIS technology, together with a more focused study area. The landscape character review has also resulted in the creation of two Landscape character is defined as: new Landscape Areas (2.7 Torquay Coast and Hinterland, and 6.1 “The interplay of geology, landform, vegetation, waterform and other natural Point Impossible Coastal Dunes) within the Surf Coast Declared features, combined with the effects of land use and built development that makes Area. one landscape different from another.”1 The above combination of desktop analysis, GIS mapping and In order to determine and document the landscape character of a fieldwork is employed as a methodology because landscapes often region or study area, firstly Landscape Types are defined. do not have a clear beginning, middle or an end. When Landscape Types are based on broad areas of common physical, determining landscape character, there is not always a explicit line environmental and cultural characteristics. that divides Landscape Types or Landscape Areas. These boundaries often occur in transitional space where landscapes Secondly, at a more detailed local level, each Landscape Type is merge, and it is difficult to find these boundaries on the ground. further divided into Landscape Areas, which are separate Therefore a desktop and GIS mapping analysis of the geographical units within the same Landscape Type, across which aforementioned geographical elements is layered with the visual local conditions vary. and physical experience of surveying the