Australia's first GLBT retirement village is expected be built in the Victorian country town of Ballan, after a private developer received council approval for the development.
Developer Peter Dickson lodged plans for 120 self-contained units and a
residential centre in a $26 million village currently known as 'Linton
Estate'.
Ballan is located in Moorabool Shire, a short distance from the historic village of Daylesford, which already boasts oneof the largest rural GLBT populations in Australia.
Moorabool Shire's Mayor, Dianne McAuliffe, told inquiring media that
the council "doesn't necessarily
have a view" on whether the development was a good thing for the town,
and the planning process did not take an interest in who would live at
the facility.
"Council made a decision on a planning application for a retirement," Cr McAuliffe told The Courier.
"We don't go into the nuts and bolts of who'sgoing to be living
(there) with any of the applications we look at."It's a development
that's received planning approval."
The development is expected to include a gym, pool, bowling greens and tennis courts, will be given an official launch in Melbourne next week.
"I'm not surprised that something like this is happening now because it's definitely a developing niche market and as we're telling people," Mr Lovelock told GAYinWA.
"But just because a development application has gone in doesn't mean it will be up and running tomorrow. I think we're a good 18 months to two years away from seeing anything actually built in this country"
Mr Lovelock said he would be meeting with a well-known Queensland group in the near future that may be interested in developing GLBT retirement facilities in Western Australia.
"Of course, not everyone wants to move into a specifically gay and lesbian facility, so we're looking at other options as well," he said.
"But the main thing is that when we're talking to people we're telling them, look, if you're don't give this group some consideration you're overlooking an important niche. So things are moving in the right direction."
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