Business
22 June, 2026
Decision deferred as parties work through ‘unfair’ expectations
Goulburn-Mulwaree Council has deferred a decision on a major retail development in the Goulburn CBD as the applicant works with council staff to resolve mainly traffic-related issues.
Goulburn-Mulwaree Council has deferred a decision on a major retail development in the Goulburn CBD as the applicant works with council staff to resolve mainly traffic-related issues.
Council staff had recommended that the application for construction and operation of a single-story building in Hume Street comprising eight tenancies – including Harvey Norman – be refused.
They said it would not be in council’s interests to approve the proposal “without significant change and/or upgrade to the function and operation of Finlay Road, the intersection of Hume Street/Finlay Road and the concurrence of Transport for NSW (TfNSW) for access directly to the site from Hume Street”.
However, two people speaking on behalf of the applicant at council’s June 9 public forum said the staff recommendation for refusal had come as a complete surprise and suggested their client was being treated unfairly.
“Fairness may not be a part of the Planning Act but I think having a fair go is an important matter for discussion today,” Jason Capuano from The Stevens Group told councillors.
In particular, he described an expectation that the applicant deliver a $3 million upgrade of the Hume Street/Finlay Road intersection as a “fatal imposition” and said the project simply wouldn’t proceed if the upgrade remained a requirement.
He said he was confident the issues raised in the staff report could be resolved.
“I’m confident in our openness, readiness and desire to do so (reach a solution), but I don’t think we are getting a fair go from council staff to be frank,” Mr Capuano said.
“We’re certainly desperate to work through the issues and we believe they can be resolved”.
Mr Capuano said there had been a significant level of interest in tenancies at the location and there were only “a few” vacancies remaining.
He said the $26 million development – being called the Goulburn Homemakers Centre – would create the equivalent of 155 full-time jobs and generate $10 million in wages every year.
Mr Capuano said the broader economic impact would be “very significant” and that “small issues shouldn’t be a problem when the benefits are so great”.
Another speaker at the June 9 public forum warned the matter could wind up before the Land and Environment Court if the issues identified by council staff couldn’t be resolved.
Paul Anderson from P.M Anderson Consulting said he would much rather see the matter deferred and for it to come back to council with a recommendation for “100 per cent support” rather than “argue it out in the Land and Environment Court which will cost the both of us a stack of money”.
Mr Anderson and Mr Capuano both argued that it would be unfair to expect the applicant to foot the entire bill for the upgrade of the Hume Street/Finlay Road intersection given that it was already operating at capacity and it a was project that TfNSW was planning to undertake anyway.
They also argued that it was neither fair nor reasonable for the applicant to be required to widen Finlay Road given existing traffic hazards.
“We are being burdened with a solution,” Mr Capuano said.
He said part of the problem in Finlay Road was that adjoining businesses were allowed to unload from the street “and not within their own yards”.
Mr Anderson said some of the conditions being recommended by staff “go a bit beyond any of the discussions we’ve had with council staff all the way through the assessment of this application”.
“A number of them were a surprise to us,” he said.
Council’s Director of Planning and Environment Scott Martin told councillors at the June 16 meeting that staff had been actively engaging with the applicant following the public forum.
He said they had been looking at the functionality of Finlay Road as well as the safe and effective operation of the Hume Street/Finlay Road intersection.
--------------
Subscribe to The Southern Wire Newsletter for free at the link below.
https://subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com/1986abc6-c89e-4781-9db2-cf35c9dd71e4
If you value independent local journalism across the Highlands, Tablelands and Wollondilly, please click the link below to support us to ensure we remain paywall free.
Read More: Southern Tablelands, Goulburn