By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
SATURDAY 24 October 2015 marked 12 months since the historic Woori Yallock Hotel burned to the ground.
Since then, pub owners Melissa and Doug Fraser have been fighting an uphill battle to secure a planning permit to rebuild the pub.
The Frasers said they first approached the town planning department at council in November 2014, a month after the pub burnt down and they still had no permit to begin building.
“We had the original application in less than one day past the day it was supposed to be in and they cancelled the application entirely,” Mr Fraser said.
“We than had to reapply for a new permit, but this time there was a list of all new conditions we had to comply with.”
“It’s so disappointing,” Mrs Fraser said.
“You feel like you keep getting knocked to the ground just when you are getting ahead”
Yarra Ranges Shire director of Planning, Building and Health Andrew Paxton said the due date for submissions was a steadfast deadline unless an extension was applied for.
“Officers spoke to the applicant about a week before the due date for the information to remind the applicant that it had not been provided,” he said in a written statement.
“However, despite this, the applicant did not provide the information prior to the due date, and did not request an extension to this time as they are able to do.”
The second application of the Frasers for a building permit was rejected by council and 31 more conditions were added to the application before it would be considered.
The Frasers calculate they have spent and extra $50,000 meeting these additional conditions, many of which have been repeated from the previous application.
The Frasers said they felt the council had made it especially difficult for them to move ahead with the rebuild.
“We’re just a husband and wife team putting everything we can into bringing this pub back,” Mr Fraser said.”
Despite all the setbacks, the Frasers are confident they will have their building permit by mid-November and plan to have the pub open and trading by October 2016.
