If anyone thought that things couldn’t get any worse as far as planning goes in Glen Eira, then a perusal of the Carnegie Structure Plan proposals put pay to this delusion.  Once again there has not been any community consultation on the latest draft. Instead councillors are being asked to pass this item and send off to the minister for advertising approval. Then it will come back for formal amendment submissions. This does not constitute ‘consultation’ given that planning panels are generally in favour of whatever councils propose. Furthermore, writing submissions and then attending hearings takes time, energy and total commitment by residents. Even worse, is that in order to fully comprehend what is being proposed, residents will have to wade through hundreds upon hundreds of pages. Hardly conducive to good ‘consultation’ and full transparency.

What is clear however, is that this latest version is even worse than the abandoned C184.  A quick summary follows:

  • Heritage along Koornang Road has gone from 4 storey mandatory to 5 storey mandatory
  • The discretionary heights of 12 storeys and 43 metres has now gone up to 46 metres
  • Onsite car parking provision will be reduced
  • Other sites have also gone from 5 to 6 storeys to the south of Neerim Road

There is not a single word that we could find which explains/justifies why there has been this increase in heights – apart from stating that the consultant urban designer thought it was okay. Interestingly, this ‘conclusion’ is proffered but without the publication of any overshadowing documentation, and the admission that in certain areas only the September solstice was considered.

Also gone from the current proposal are such decision guidelines which featured in 2017 and 2018 as –

To preserve and enhance the low scale character of the Koornang Road shopping strip.

Whether proposed buildings on sites that are in the vicinity of a heritage place are respectful of that heritage place.

To ensure an appropriate design response to sensitive interfaces, such as heritage or low-scale residential sites and open space

They are replaced with this hogwash –

responds to the existing heritage fabric in Koornang Road and the heritage significance of the Rosstown Hotel.

We are also concerned that the current DDO which only applies to the commercial and mixed use areas in Carnegie, means that the surrounding residential streets (ie Mimosa) reverts back to its current zoning of 4 storeys, instead of what in 2018 was rezoned as 3 storeys. This applies to other residential areas too. Council is claiming that the zoning will be part of the Housing Strategy, but even this document does not make this clear. Plus, by the time anything is gazetted we could still be looking at another 2 years!

To highlight the newest proposals we have provided screen dumps of what came before and what council now wants for Carnegie and what currently exists.

  1. The current height proposals –

2. The 2018 version

3. And the latest ddo which only concentrated on the commercial and mixed use zones. This proposed amendment even outdoes the following –

It must be remembered that Amendment C184 was abandoned and that 4 councillors voted again the Housing Strategy. In our view nothing has changed except that the latest proposals represent a further deterioration in all aspects of town planning and concern about over-development and the destruction of this municipality.