There is exciting news from Frankston. On Wednesday Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny announced an Interim Design and Development Overlay which included mandatory height limits of 3 storeys on the section of land between Kananook Creek Boulevard and Nepean Highway. This article is reposted from Planning Democracy Facebook.
This area has a very sensitive creek interface and is adjacent to the Frankston foreshore. Despite its importance, until now it has had no protection from overdevelopment. Developers have lodged plans for 14, 15, and 16 storey towers! Of course their plan is to build luxury apartments - no risk of any dwellings that a young person on a basic income could live in.
The Stop the Great Wall of Frankston Campaign Committee has done a mighty job in campaigning against high rise development in Frankston's waterfront precinct. It included a Blues Concert last weekend, and a rally back on 13 May at which I was one of the speakers. The rally had an audience of hundreds, and their Petition to stop the Great Wall has attracted over 4000 signatures. Planning Democracy, and the Protectors of Public Lands, as well as many local groups and residents, have supported this campaign.
Of course this battle has a long way to go yet, but the Minister has done the right thing, and her intervention deserves our support.
It gives us hope that there is still room for community opinion and action to influence our decision makers.
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Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 2023-07-07 21:57
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Developer calls protesters 'NIMBYS', talks of 'undersupply'
The developer wanting to build up on 446-450 Nepean Hwy, Danny Ciarma, was quoted describing the people fighting for height limits as NIMBYs and seemed to think Kilkenny acting on behalf of her electorate was somehow a slur.
"But the developer of 446-450 Nepean Highway, Urban DC founder Danny Ciarma, said the minister’s intervention was “suspicious”, “a slap in the face” and would “undermine investment confidence in the whole state, not just Frankston”. “She’s unsettled the whole investment fraternity, which is going to further exacerbate the whole undersupply issue that we face.”
“It is very clear to me that Sonya bowed to her voters as a local member of the area and put her local constituents in front of and before the greater planning policies of the state,” Ciarma said.
Premier Daniels Andrews has flagged a housing and planning reform package, expected within the next two months, that is widely expected to include greater state government planning controls and a smaller role for councils.
No decision had been made yet by VCAT, and Ciarma said he was unsure what the overlay would mean for the decision.
“I’ve spent the last 18 months working with council and the council planners very closely in formulating a design that meets the proposed structure plan in every way,” he said.
“It’s not for some disgruntled local NIMBYs to put their thoughts forward and have their wishes granted to the detriment of the greater good.”"
Source: Article by Rachael Dexter in the Age, 5 July 2023, "Minister intervenes on ‘Great Wall of Frankston,’" https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/minister-intervenes-on-great-wall-of-frankston-20230705-p5dlxh.html
Sheila Newman
Fri, 2023-07-07 22:01
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Unsettle investors in high rise and population jugganaut
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