PLANNING applications before Maribyrnong City Council are sometimes making councillors and officers feel stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Cr Janet Rice told the chamber at last month’s council meeting that this was the case when she discussed a planning application for townhouses in Gordon Street.
The application for five double storey dwellings costing $1million on the corner of Gordon and Mitchell streets attracted 16 objections.
Cr Rice said council approved the original application for seven dwellings, but residents appealed against it at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and won.
She said the present application put the council between a rock and a hard place because there was a planning permit that was “live”.
Cr Rice said that if the council rejected the application on 19 February, the applicant could go back to the original application, which would be even more intrusive on neighbouring buildings.
She said the council’s planning officers had recommended five pages of amendments to the application, after negotiations which resulted in a number of changes.
Another application that troubled councillors was that for a $20 million apartment complex in Hopkins St, which council only approved under advice from the state Department of Planning.
Cr Rice said the planners had recommended the seven-storey application because of the design of the building.
Cr Janis Rossiter said she was against the development because it was one storey over what was recommended in the council’s Skyline study.
“Council has gone to a great deal of trouble and consultation for the Footscray Skyline study,” she said.
Cr Rice said this application, like the Gordon St one, would have parking issues as unit residents would not have access to residential on-street parking, however the Hopkins St development would have one parking spot per unit and would be 200 metres from the nearest railway station.
Cr Michael Clarke said he liked the design because, he hoped, it would help wean people off cars.
He said he had been very concerned with overshadowing, which he thought would affect surrounding buildings, however, on seeing the complete design, he did not see overshadowing being an issue.
“This is the beginning of the gateway of this city,” Cr Clarke said. “It’s contemporary.”
