The rush of multiple dwellings in the Neighbourhood Residential Zones (NRZ) continues unabated with more and more applications coming in. We feature the latest below.
Readers should remember the following:
- Council’s housing report fails to take full account of this rush given that the ‘estimates’ are for an additional 0.6 dwellings on lots over 700 square metres in size. The reality is that sites well and truly below 700 square metres are averaging an additional 1 to 2 dwellings per site.
- Since the introduction of Wynne’s VC110, councils have been given the right to include mandatory lot subdivision sizes in their schedules. Not a word has come out about this provision from council!
Assuming that the applications below will gain their permits, that means a NET GAIN of 9 dwellings in just these few sites. What this does to council’s overall ‘calculations’ and structure planning has not been realistically addressed. If the NRZ is now a defacto General Residential Zone and more and more development is occurring in the NRZ, then the crucial question is – why do we need to expand the activity centre borders? why do we need to ‘upgrade’ so many properties for higher density? why do we need 12 storey residential towers throughout the city? and why oh why is council so hell bent on facilitating more and more development?
Glen Eira Debates 
January 2, 2018 at 11:02 AM
How do you figure 9 net dwellings?
January 2, 2018 at 11:41 AM
Our calculations are as follows:
1. six applications over 7 sites (one application is for 2 sites). We assume that currently there is 1 dwellings only per site.
2. Under previous legislation these applications would only allow 14 dwellings to be erected if they were to be developed.
3. The total asked for in these applications is 23 providing a NET GAIN result of 9 dwellings.
This could also be looked at as going from 7 dwellings to 23 – an even greater increase.
January 2, 2018 at 11:28 AM
Just adding more and more dwellings without any forward planning. Ghettos of the future! Quality of life no longer matters!
January 4, 2018 at 9:08 AM
So far Council hasn’t provided strategic justification for much of what it has proposed. Underestimating the yield of NRZ is typical of their approach. It was only a few years ago they thought it appropriate to rezone the entire municipality, without consultation, to deliver at least 85 years’ worth of development potential. In response, the development industry accelerated the rate at which new apartments were developed. It appears that is the sole reason that Council wants to expand massively the ill-defined “activity centre” boundaries, meaning areas whose residential amenity is to be compromised in ways that those living in NRZ consider to be unacceptable for themselves.