A HORSHAM councillor said he believed the City to River plan should not be voted on until the next council is elected in October this year.
Horsham Rural City Councillor John Robinson said community frustrations about consultation on the plan meant council had lost credibility.
"The community are yet to have a say in what they want," he said.
"They have never been able to say what they want."
Mayor Mark Radford said in a statement that he wanted the community to be clear about the current status of the City to River Masterplan.
"The plan was endorsed at the 25 November meeting and Council's endorsement included a range of amendments to the draft concept plan following feedback during the public engagement phase," he said.
"The report deferred at the February meeting was just to receive and note the final City to River Masterplan."
Cr Radford said the next stages would involve draft schematic designs being developed for separate precincts and public comment sought.
At the Monday council meeting chief executive Sunil Bhalla detailed how the community had been engaged on the plan, including more than 700 submissions received.
He previously said the vote to note and receive the final version of the 20-year vision for Horsham was "a formality".
Cr Robinson said, however, if council passed City to River Masterplan without improved engagement he would consider taking the issue to the local government minister.
"Unless we can restore credibility in the process, the community would knock this (the City to River plan) on the head," he said.
"It's not really the silent majority anymore. Certainly the amount of people who have contacted myself and you can see on social media and the editorials and all the rest of it.
"You'd have to be living in some sort of bubble if you thought this process was being supported by the community."
Cr Robinson's comments come after a heated council meeting when a vote on the plan was deferred for a second time amid claims of "bullying" and 'inaction".
These arose from an email written by Cr Pam Clarke about Cr Robinson and Cr David Grimble released under Freedom of Information.
Cr Robinson denied that he read out Cr Clake's email during a point of order as a tactic to delay the vote on the City to River.
"It was raised in relation to the integrity of the process and the attacks on myself and Cr Grimble," he said.
Cr Radford said he had visited the Municipal Association of Victoria seeking guidance on how to handle the issues raised at the Council meeting.
"I will have more to say after I contact the Councillors on Friday with some proposals to move forward and deal with these issues," he said.
Cr Robinson has presented the Mail-Times with an alternate plan for urban renewal, which he said was informed by the ideas of others in the community.
Cr Robinson said the Wimmera river could be extended north to connect to the land where the council vehicle depot is set to be removed, which would create an access point to hospitality and retail businesses in the centre of town.
On the next steps Cr Radford, in his statement, said: "We now have a concept Masterplan, that is a series of ideas that have been adjusted taking into account community feedback.
"The resolution from 25 November divided the Masterplan into precincts.
"Each one of these precincts will now be developed into a schematic design and this will involve the establishment of precinct community reference groups to guide this process.
"The draft schematic design will be presented to the public for comment.
"The Schematic Design will include costings and timelines and, if approved by Council, will led to detailed design and tender documentation for construction."
Councillor Robinson's alternate City to River plan
Councillor John Robinson has presented the Mail-Times with an alternative vision to transform Horsham in light of the disagreements around elements of the City to River plan.
He said the plan involving a redevelopment of the council vehicle depot was not his own idea but the combination of suggestions from others in the community and would better complement the town's natural asset - the Wimmera River.
"We have a beautiful river, it's very natural," he said. "Why would we want to muck it up? It's a feature within itself," he said.
Cr Robinson said potentially extending the river north towards the land where the depot is to be removed would highlight Aboriginal heritage trees in the area, as well as create an access point to cafes and restaurants.
"From a newly located branch of the river it would only be a couple of hundred metres from the Town Hall," he said.
"You only have to look at Paynesville (in Gippsland) down in the east of the state to see what they have done with canals."
What sort of plan would you like to see for Horsham's future?
Eliza Berlage
Eliza Berlage made the move to Horsham to report for the Wimmera Mail-Times in October 2019. Originally from Sydney, she has a sociology background and spent two years working in the press gallery in Canberra.
Eliza Berlage made the move to Horsham to report for the Wimmera Mail-Times in October 2019. Originally from Sydney, she has a sociology background and spent two years working in the press gallery in Canberra.
