Former Queenscliff High School Principal Rob Hurley is the Borough’s new Citizen of the Year. 

A resident for more than 30 years, Mr Hurley has been an active volunteer with many organisations including the Queenscliff Music Festival, Community Association, golf club, the Swan Bay Environment Association, Swan Bay Gardens for Wildlife, and Trinity Aid for Refugees. 

He was also instrumental in establishing the Queenscliff Neighbourhood House and, more recently, has volunteered his time to support those living with Parkinson’s Disease. 

“I am very honoured, but there’s also a lot of other people involved. This is a tremendous community for volunteers, it’s also a tremendous community for being involved with things like the music festival, or schools, the golf club,” Mr Hurley said. “It’s just so nice to be involved in a lot of those things. 

Talented junior water polo player Alexandra Scorgie and Point Lonsdale Surf Life Saving Club junior captain Belle Kidd shared joint Junior Citizens of the Year. 

Alexandra has been identified a future star of the sport. She has captained the Victorian U/16 team and was named most valuable player in the State Water Polo Championships. 

Over the past two years Belle has reached 100 hours of voluntarily patrolling the Point Lonsdale back beach. She has assisted in Bronze Medallion and Cadet life saving camps and was instrumental in, and captained Queenscliff’s first all-girl football team. Belle is also a badged netball umpire and last season coached a junior Queenscliff netball team. 

Queenscliff Primary School’s Biggest Morning Tea is the Community Event of the Year. The event raised more than $1,300 for cancer research. 
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Having removed 210,000 square metres of weeds from across 12 work sites in the Borough since 2013, Conservation Volunteers Australia was named Community Environment Project of the Year.

Concerned residents will have their chance to hear details of and ask questions about a proposed redevelopment of the former Sims Lodge nursing home at a Council meeting on March 15, amid concerns it could be used as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. 

Queenscliff Councillors have voted to remove the delegation of the borough’s planning officers to make a ruling on the application for 81 Nelson Road, after receiving a “substantial” number of objecting submissions. 

The application proposes to transform the 22-bed vacant building into the Bellarine Wellness Centre – a “short stay retreat and respite centre” offering off-site for individuals and couples such as yoga, snorkeling, swimming and day trips.”

 “The proposal would make use of an under-utilised building on the site” and would be a “positive addition to the community, providing further health-related services,” according to the application.

“The facility would be staffed 24 hours and visitors would be encouraged not to bring their vehicles. “The facility will offer a shuttle bus to and from Geelong,” it says.
  
Guests would be offered stays of up to one month. 

The application makes no specific mention of drug and alcohol treatment, however the individual whose name appears on it is understood to be a drug and alcohol counselor with links to another rehabilitation facility.
Queenscliffe CEO Lenny Jenner said the interest in the application warranted a separate planning meeting, giving those for and against it to have their say. 
“There is a very high number of submissions Council has received. It would be clearly appropriate to provide the proponent with that significant number of submissions and to provide an adequate level of time for both submitters and the proponent to prepare, so that we get the best out of that meeting,” Mr Jenner said.
The building adjoins Council-owned land in Murray Road, earmarked for a residential development estimated to deliver as much as $4.7 million. 
Mr Jenner said there was no risk of Council having a conflict of interest, because no voting Councillors stood to benefit personally. 
Councillor Ross Ebbels, who lives nearby the centre, did not participate in last month’s vote. 
“The Local Government Act outlines in a level of detail the question of when does a conflict of interest apply. If there is a direct, personal, individual gain then Councillors would need to consider and where appropriate declare a conflict of interest,” Mr Jenner said. 
”That’s Council land and council is responsible for making a decision as and when is necessary in relation to that property. There is no private or personal gain to be achieved by any individual councilor, so there is no conflict of interest.”
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Stingray feeding has been scrapped in favour of a new interactive walk highlighting our fishing and seafaring history, under Queenscliff Harbour’s new vision for Fisherman’s Wharf.

A revised planning application currently before Council includes a full rebuild of the badly damaged wharf, formalised car parking and landscaping.

Derelict sheds will be demolished, but the Peter Locke/Cayzer slipway will be retained for the launch of small craft, such as kyaks and dinghies.

Interpretive kiosks would be placed along the full length of the harbour waterfont, with potential elements including periscopes for underwater viewing, telescopes or touch screen displays.

“These works will substantially enhance the functionality and amenity of Fishermen’s Flat, benefitting both the local community and visitors to Queenscliff,” said the vision's author, Echelon Planning.

“The interpretive trail will allow visitors to tap into the rich history of the location,”. “Along the way the trail will direct visitors to other information sources such as various local museums and tourism features within the township.

“The discovery trail is about bringing the harbour to life.”

The new proposal was created after extensive consultation and following widespread anger over initial plans for a stingray feeding stadium and outdoor cinema.

It appears to have won the approval of nearby Fisherman's Flat  residents, some imploring Council to approve and “get on with” the project.
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“For many years this issue has been unresolved, but thanks to the Queenscliff Harbour Pty Ltd we have a long-sought after result,” one supporting submission said. “Workshops were financed by them and experts were hired, Parks (Victoria) and residents were invited, all in collaboration and with good will, to find an alternative to the objections and outcries of residents to the stingray proposal. Amazingly we all agreed.”
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Do the four remaining P1 huts on the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse Reserve have any historical significance and should they be retained?

That is the question Borough of Queenscliffe councillors will need to determine, when the recommendations of the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse Reference Group are put before them in coming weeks. 

Members of the group have met four times in the past month, chiefly to thrash out the future of the huts, which date back to WWII.  

A community-backed resolution, reached some three years ago,  favoured their removal, however an application to have the reserve to included on the National Heritage List – supported by the Council and local state and federal politicians - has shifted the goal posts and made it difficult for a demolition order to be given, said group member Councillor Bob Merriman. 

“The starting point is that we have a resolution from the community that there should be no buildings on that site. But early in the life of this reference group, the question was raised as to the heritage value of those huts and given that there’s been an application made for Australian Heritage Council recognition of the whole area, the question has been raised as to the effect of moving all of those huts, moving three of those huts or  leaving one hut,” Cr Merriman said. 

“The Reference Group is looking at those three alternatives to make a recommendation to Council. It hasn’t been finalised in any detail yet. 

“The concern of the reference group is that they want to be able to be confident that whatever we do with the P1 huts does not in any way affect or put at risk the heritage application."

Council would also have to consider the cost of each of the alternatives and whether they can be met, he said. 

“That is the other main consideration, what is the cost of the three alternatives and can we afford it.” 
Utilising one of the huts - the McDonald Hut - as an interpetive centre - is undestood to be among the group's favoured options. 

According to the heritage application, the P1 huts are important for their association with our military past including the Australian Women’s Army Service [AWAS] and the housing of Italian prisoners of war. 
The Toc H charity took over the buildings in 1946. 
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In recent years however the discarded buildings have been targeted by vandals, with one being burned to the ground in suspicious  circumstances.