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Melbourne City Council

City of Melbourne Municipal Council

Council Turnaround Approves Development Ignoring Residents Concerns

By Heritage, Melbourne City Council, Planning, Traffic

The City of Melbourne turnaround has ignored residents concerns and in the process Crs Ken Ong and Stephen Mayne threatened to withdraw residential parking permits.

Opposed to Residents Concerns

LM_Robert_Doyle

Robert Doyle

Cr_Ken_Ong

Ken Ong

Cr_Stephen_Mayne

Stephen Mayne

DLM_Susan_Riley

Susan Riley

Cr_Arron_Wood

Arron Wood

Cr_Kevin_Louey

Kevin Louey

Cr_Oke

Cathy Oake

Cr_Leppert

Rohan Leppert

 

Support for Residents

Cr_Richard_Foster

Richard Foster

Cr_Beverley_Pinder_Mortimer

Beverley Pinder-Mortimer

Cr_Jackie_Watts

Jackie Watts

​​

For the last two years the City Council engineers and planners have opposed the establishment of an early-learning centre, on the Corner of Toorak Road West and Leopold Street South Yarra,  supporting residents concerns in relation to traffic management, parking and heritage.

Last nights decision to support the development has come as a surprise given that very little has changed to address the problems foreseen with the proposed development with no net gain to the amenity of the area.

Goodrest is one of South Yarra’s most prized heritage assets, located within a residential neighbourhood zone the proposed construction of a 26 underground car-park with car entrance off Toorak road, demolition of residential apartments at the rear and the construction of a new Commercial building in its place.

Only Two Councillors (Cr Beverly Pinder-Mortimer and Cr Kevin Louey) met with residents on site.  Both indicated at the time they would be opposed to the granting of a planning permit. Cr Louey later voted to approve the development whilst Cr Pinder-Mortimer maintained her position and concerns over safety.

Cr Richard Foster spoke passionately in opposition to the granting of a permit and Cr Jackie Watts who did not attend the meeting on September 1 has also privately indicated that she was opposed to the development.

Listen to / download audio of the September 1 meeting:

Future Melbourne Committee meeting 1 September 2015 (MP3 50MB)

Speaker Time Issue
Michael Butcher 01:04:50 MSYRG
Paul McSweeny 01:08:50 Traffic
James Mathews 01:15:05 Planning Issues
Edward Hogdson 01:18:25 Taffic Analysis
Phillip Lawson 01:21:50 Traffic Amenity
Neil Gunn 01:25:40 Scotch College Judgement/Current Christ Church
Elizabeth Fox 01:29:00 Amenity. Noise Impact
Pauline Hirst 01:32:45 Local Amenity
Dr Leanna Deuval 01:35:45 Traffic Impact
Ken Whiddowson 01:38:08 Heritage
Jennifer McDonnald 01:42:25 Heritage
Judith-Ann Scott 01:46:12 Safety/Heritage
Stuart Black 01:49:35 Local Amenity/Restricted Access Proposal
Anthony van der Craats 01:53:25 Summary/Heritage
Ken Ong (Chair) 01:57:01 Removal of Street Parking
Stephen Mayne 02:04:25 Residential On-Street Parking – Empty
Robert Doyle 02:08:15 No reason to oppose Application
Arron Wood 02:13:10 Compfortable with traffc Management
Beverly Pinder 02:14:15 Opposed to development, Safety
Rohan Leppart 02:15:30 Support of Application/Net Benefit to Amenity/Additional information (Not published)
Richard Foster 02:19:30 Against recomendation/Support for residents’ concerns
Ken Ong (Chair) 02:21:50 Motion put to the vote
For: Robert Doyle, Susan Riley, Arron Wood, Stephen Mayne, Ken Ong, Kevin Louey, Cathy Oake, Rohan Leppert
Against: Beveley Pinder, Richard Foster
Absent: Jackie Watts

 

Residential Planning Zones (Update)

By Melbourne City Council, Planning

Dear Madam/Sir,

The Minister for Planning has written to the City of Melbourne advising that he has approved Amendment C179 to the Melbourne Planning Scheme. We wanted to inform you of the Minister’s decision, given you have previously made a submission or shown interest in the application of the new residential zones.

The Minister’s letter states that the approval:

  • introduces three new Schedules to the General Residential Zone and applies them to parts of Kensington, Parkville, Carlton, North Melbourne, East Melbourne and Jolimont;
  • introduces the Residential Growth Zone and applies it to parts of Carlton and Parkville; and,
  • introduces the Neighbourhood Residential Zone and applies it to parts of South Yarra.

The amendment will come into effect when notice of its approval is published in the Victoria Government Gazette.

No detail beyond the information contained in the letter from the Minister is available at this stage.

As more information becomes available, we will continue to provide updates via Participate Melbourne (melbourne.vic.gov.au/participate).

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gisele Pratt

Manager, Strategic Planning

Senior Strategic Planner

Telephone: 03 9658 8654

Email: gispra@melbourne.vic.gov.au

Draft Planning Scheme Amendment C179 – Changes to the Residential Zones

By Melbourne City Council, Planning

Dear Madam/Sir,

I am writing to notify your organisation of proposed changes to the residential planning zones in the City of Melbourne and to encourage you to make a submission to the Standing Advisory Committee for their consideration.

The proposed new residential zones in the Melbourne Planning Scheme

The City of Melbourne has drafted a planning scheme amendment to guide the introduction of the new residential zones.

From 4 August to 29 August 2014 you can review and comment on the draft amendment.

The proposed zoning is based on the community’s earlier feedback in March and April 2014.

These changes only relate to residentially zoned areas in the City of Melbourne, covering parts of Kensington, Parkville, Carlton, South Yarra, North, East and West Melbourne, Jolimont and Southbank.

Information about the proposed changes can be viewed here: http://melbourne.vic.gov.au/participate/reszones.

Questions about these zones can be directed to Dianna Siomos, Strategic Planner at the City of Melbourne on 03 9658 8404 or diasio@melbourne.vic.gov.au.

The Committee

The Minister for Planning has appointed a Standing Advisory Committee (the Committee) to advise on the method andapplication of the new Neighbourhood Residential Zone, General Residential Zone and Residential Growth Zone into local planning schemes.

The role of the Committee is to:

  •  Give submitters an opportunity to be heard by an independent body in an informal, non-judicial manner.
  •  Give independent advice to the Minister for Planning as outlined in the Terms of Reference.

Information about the Committee can be found on the DTPLI webpage.

Making a submission

You can make a submission to the Committee before 5.00pm on Friday 29 August 2014.

Submissions can be made online at  www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/residential-zones-advisory-committee. Parties wishing to post awritten submission will need to obtain a hard copy of the Submission Coversheet from Planning Panels Victoria.

 

Submissions must be directed to the Committee through Planning Panels Victoria.  Council cannot accept submissions.

All submissions and information provided at the Hearing will be treated as public documents.

A Hearing is scheduled for the week starting Monday 15 September 2014. If you wish to present at the Hearing, pleasecomplete the relevant section of the Submission Coversheet.

Questions about the Advisory Committee, making a submission, or the public hearing, can be directed to Jessica Cutting, Senior Project Manager at Planning Panels Victoria on 8392 6383 or jessica.cutting@dtpli.vic.gov.au.

We thank you in advance for distributing this information to your networks and encouraging them to lodge their submission.

Yours sincerely

Jamee Baker on behalf of
David Mayes

Manager, Strategic Planning

Melbourne – Review of Local Heritage Planning Policies

By Heritage, Melbourne City Council, Planning

Local Heritage Planning Policy Review

 

City of Melbourne is undertaking a review of their Local heritage Planning Policies

Residents are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the terms of reference and recommendations of the review

http://melbourne.vic.gov.au/BuildingandPlanning/Planning/Pages/Localheritagepolicies.aspx

Click here to lodge a submission online

 

 

Letter received from City of Melbourne

SCAN0022

Residential Re-Zoning – Ratepayers Ignored

By Committee, Melbourne City Council, Planning, State Government No Comments

At the City of Melbourne (COM) council meeting on 3 June more than 100 ratepayers (including MSYG members) attended to complain that they had not been given an opportunity to consider and discuss the final report by the Council planning department for the rezoning of the residential areas (including South Yarra) provided for under recent state government legislation.

This was a particularly important meeting because of the imminent introduction of new residential planning classifications. The MSYRG and many residents had advised the COM that the Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ) classification, a classification that provides the strictest protection against inappropriate development and building, is the only appropriate classification for many areas within our suburb of South Yarra. Areas where heritage and neighbourhood character are important features warrant the protection afforded by the new controls in an NRZ zone.

Council was slow to take up the opportunity and failed to include NRZ in a number of obvious South Yarra streets either because they failed to understand the purpose of the legislation, applied the legislation incorrectly or made mistakes due to running short of time to make an adequate and thorough assessment.

There was an admission at the meeting that Council officers ran short of time to adequately conduct a thorough consultation process with the community due to pressure to conduct and finalise other work within the COM (East-West tunnel related activities).

The MSYRG and other resident Groups within the COM felt that it was a very disappointing consultation process to say the least.

However, we are continuing to prosecute our strong belief that a NRZ classification is largely correct for important areas of South Yarra and preparing submissions to the government committee that will have the final say.

Melbourne City Council Meeting – June 3, 2014

By Meetings, Melbourne City Council, Planning

MSYRG_logo_bg

 

On Tuesday at 5.30pm on 3 June a Council committee meeting will take place at the Council meeting room, level 2, Melbourne Town Hall meeting room (Administration entrance Cnr Little Collins and Swanston Street)  at which a report from the Planning Department will be considered  in which recommendations are made for the new residential zones in South Yarra as a consequence of State Government changes to Planning Act.

The MSYRG  committee has made submissions to protect a number of streets which are important from a heritage and neighbourhood character point of view and have had meetings with the planners encouraging them to take advantage of this opportunity, in particular to limit the number of dwellings to two and the height to eight meters, by applying the Neighbourhood Residential Zone.

We have had some success but more can and should be done and as a consequence we will be submitting to the councillors on Tuesday night that the administration’s recommendations should not be accepted but the matter be adjourned until further consideration is given to the issues and in particular full discussion with ratepayers has taken place.

As it is important that councillors are made aware of the public feeling about this issue as many ratepayers as possible should attend the meeting.So please come to the meeting if you can and provide your support to the efforts of the Melbourne South Yarra Residents Group.

Thank you,

 

Michael Butcher.

Submission to City of Melbourne Residential Planning Zones

By Melbourne City Council, Planning

MSYRG_logo_bg

24 April 2014

Mr David Mayes
Manager Strategic Planning
City of Melbourne
City Planning & Infrastructure
PO Box 1603
MELBOURNE VIC 3001

 

Dear Sir

Residential Zoning Changes – a golden opportunity

It is the view of the Melbourne South Yarra Residents Group Inc that the City of Melbourne has never had a better opportunity to permanently protect and preserve the heritage and neighbourhood characteristics of large parts of South Yarra and that the initial step taken by Council’s planning officers to merely categorize all of South Yarra as “general neighbourhood” failed to take advantage of this opportunity.

  1. While the planning minister has the power to intervene, his overriding concern has been to ensure sufficient land is set aside for “growth”. However in the case of the City of Melbourne this cannot be an issue having regard to the enormous concentration of apartments in the central district, a development that the minister has been driving most recently by once again intervening and approving five apartment towers.
  2. Furthermore, having regard to the impact of this enormous increase in city dwellers as well as the growing influx of residents from other areas into the city upon the City of Melbourne, its facilities and services it would be entirely inappropriate for the minister to insist that additional growth areas should be set aside in nearby areas such as South Yarra or Carlton. Indeed we would have thought the City of Melbourne should be seeking a contribution from State Government for the additional burdens it has to deal with.
  3. As a consequence of bad laws and/or bad implementation of those laws, important and attractive historic parts of South Yarra have already been impacted by inappropriate houses and blocks of flats. It is time to bring that to a halt and to preserve those historic areas from further degradation.
  4. While property developers will no doubt be unhappy if large parts of South Yarra were zoned Neighbourhood Residential it is high time the planning and development of this city was undertaken by those with expertise rather than developers as has so often been the case in the past. The Minister has now given Council the golden opportunity to do just that.
  5. Accordingly, we enclose a plan in which all of the areas the Melbourne South Yarra Residents Group consider have important historic and neighbourhood characteristics that must be preserved and protected from further over development by re-zoning them as “Neighbourhood Residential”. These comprise all of the properties fronting the following streetsDomain Street
    Hope Street
    Millswyn Street
    Mason Street
    St Martins Lane
    Park Street
    Toorak Road West – Park to Domain Streets
    Leopold Street
    Domain Road – between Hope and Domain Streets
    Domain Road – between Walsh Street and Punt Road
    Pasley Street
    Park Place
    Airlie Street
    St Leonards Cour
  6. Council should not take the view that as there may be inappropriate existing developments in a street, that that street should not be protected as “neighbourhood residential”. These streets are stable precincts in which the dominant characteristic is low level, historic, diverse and interesting buildings that contribute significantly to the feel and style of South Yarra as one of the early parts of Melbourne to be settled. These streets should each be looked at as a whole and if its characteristics are important they should be protected.
  7. It is also our view that the maximum building height should be fixed at 8 metres and the number of dwellings per lot at two.
  8. Reclassifying these precincts “Neighbourhood Residential” and fixing the maximum building height and number of dwellings will provide clarity and certainty that is rare and a great deal more than is currently provided by heritage overlays and other means.
  9. Other councils have been bold in protecting significant parts of their municipality and so should the City of Melbourne. A recent letter from our local member Clem Newton-Brown encourages and indeed tells us to do just that.
  10. There are constant complaints about outsized and inappropriate building in South Yarra to which Council and VCAT often respond “we can do nothing as it is allowed by law”. Well this is the opportunity to change that and for the City of Melbourne to take control.

The Melbourne South Yarra Residents Group urges Council to take full advantage of this opportunity and designate the marked streets “Neighbourhood Residential”. It would be a significant step by the City of Melbourne that the minister should not argue about.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Butcher
President

 

cc        Lord Mayor Robert Doyle; Councillor Richard Foster; Councillor Rohan Leppert; Councillor Kevin Louey; Councillor Stephen Mayne; Councillor Cathy Oke; Councillor Ken Ong; Councillor Beverley Pinder-Mortimer; Councillor Jackie Watts; Councillor Arron Wood

 

Proposed Neighbourhood Residential Zones - Melbourne South Yarra

Proposed Neighbourhood Residential Zones – Melbourne South Yarra