Neighbourhood centres in Glen Eira have been totally ignored for years despite the fact that development is proceeding at a great pace and with ever increasing heights and density. The latest result of council’s failure to introduce any planning controls for these areas comes with a new application for a 7 storey development at 75-85 Hawthorn Road. This will sit directly alongside another 7 storey building and opposite a 6 storey building.
McKinnon now has 6 storeys. Glen Huntly has multiple sites with 6 storeys. East Bentleigh the same and will soon have at least 8 storeys. Murrumbeena and Hughesdale also feature 6 storey permits. Ormond will have 10 storeys and currently has several 5 storey permits. Each and every neighbourhood centre will now become another de facto high rise area.
So what is council doing about this? Very little it would seem. This stands in stark contrast to other councils who have refused to be so compliant and pro-development. Boroondara through its C229 Amendment managed to ensure mandatory height limits for all but its 3 major commercial shopping strips where the majority were of a maximum height of 3 storeys and only 1 was for 5 storeys. (See HERE). Bayside has also worked tirelessly to shore up protection for its neighbourhood centres. In Glen Eira we still await any indication as to:
- Will these neighbourhood centres also have structure plans?
- When will council get around to introducing any real protection for these centres?
- Will council be fighting tooth and nail for mandatory height limits as Boroondara did?
- With the stated ‘upgrading’ of Bentleigh East and Caulfield South, what will council decide as an ‘appropriate’ height for these centres? – 8 storeys? 9 storeys? And how much land will be rezoned to either RGZ or GRZ that is now zoned Neighbourhood Residential?
True to form, council’s modus operandi remains the same – keep the plebs ignorant until it is too late!
Glen Eira Debates 
January 2, 2019 at 2:32 PM
By the time they get around to doing anything it will be far too late. That’s the plan I bet.
January 2, 2019 at 6:54 PM
A 3 metre wide dead end row as entrance to basement parking. Insane. No way for 2 cars to get by each other.
January 3, 2019 at 5:43 PM
Glen Huntly is a Major Activity Centre, just as Carnegie, Bentleigh, Elsternwick and Caulfield are. So much for local policy having to be consistent with State policy. Height limits generally lack strategic justification unless they are linked to amenity standards. That’s where the whole planning edifice collapses. Whether 6, 8, 10, 12 or 14 storeys, the primary concern should be the impact on the amenity of sensitive residential interfaces. A secondary concern should be the cost of providing additional infrastructure to cope with the level of densification that GECC and State Government demands.
The recent “strategic planning” debacle shows the true agenda since the result doesn’t reflect the community feedback I heard and observed. Amenity is not a priority for this council, nor are the objectives of planning in Victoria. Did anybody else notice how council staff snuck in yet another weakening of amenity standards for RGZ when seeking approval to ask the State Government to grant itself a windfall?
January 3, 2019 at 10:17 PM
It clear for all to see, we are not making any new amenity we are selling it.
You would think just on our lack of public open space our planners would be showing some concern about keeping the population growth sustainable. Instead we rocket on and the open space levy sits there gathering dust and running the risk of not provided move open space but being used to place more building on existing open space leading to a futher decline in our open space. Sady as all have pointed out our councillors are a bunch of dummies and not up to their roles and responsibilties.
January 4, 2019 at 3:44 PM
As per the above posts, a disgraceful situation.