By Gabrielle Costa
WEST Footscray residents concerned about inappropriate development have vowed to be ever-vigilant in the fight against high-rise buildings and other structural eyesores – and say the council could have done more to protect the charm of the area.
Last month, councillors at the City of Maribyrnong adopted a new West Footscray Urban Design Framework. It was drawn up in a bid to shape the development of the area over the next 15 years.
The original report prepared by officers – which was the subject of 58 submissions from residents – was modified at the meeting to spell out a three-storey limit in the area surrounding the Barkly Street Village. Originally a four-storey limit had been proposed.
But there are still concerns that the state’s planning appeals body, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, could approve developments that encroach on existing property owners or undermine the character of the local area.
West Footscray’s Anne Parsons said the three-storey limit had been reached through “compromise” – and came amid concerns about a 13-storey apartment complex in the Barkly St area.
The council confirmed that an application for a multi-storey development, at the site adjoining the Allegro apartments, had been received; the council had asked the applicant for further information about the proposal.
“We feel that it is an inner-suburban family suburb and they can do that sort of development around the city and in the Docklands area. We basically are opposed to overcrowding and pollution, noise and otherwise,” Ms Parsons said.
“We’re opposed to overcrowding because of the social ramifications, the security ramifications, the environmentally sustainable ramifications. We don’t have good enough infrastructure in the area to sustain multiplex, high-rise development. The trains are already clogged, the buses are clogged and unreliable so we feel that to continue on what they have in Footscray in Barkly Street to north of Geelong Rd would be detrimental to our quality of life.”
Clive St resident Bernice Ryan Cruse said she felt “that I could have been more protected” by the framework and was disappointed many questions she raised at the council meeting went unanswered.
“I feel pleased with what they have done but I feel they could have done a bit more,” she said.
Ms Ryan Cruse said she did not want to “frighten away developers” any more than the council did, but wanted to ensure the character of the local area, which is peppered with older-style homes, was retained.
The new framework made it clear multi-storey development was not something the local community or the council would want, she said.
Without it, “there would have been nothing written to say that’s not in keeping with what we want and you would have just been reliant on the council and if it goes to VCAT they can do what they like so I’m pleased that there’s something there now … that’s my overriding sense of satisfaction.”
However, she also said: “Now I feel like I need to be concerned about every planning application that goes up along Barkly St. I feel like I we need to be looking at what people are going to do in my neighbourhood instead of letting it all just happen … It’s now our job to do that, so we have to be vigilant.”
But the manager of city design and place making at the council, Kelvin Walsh, said residents would receive protection through the urban design framework.
“The West Footscray UDF is a broad reaching forward vision for the neighbourhood aimed at achieving the aspirations of a very diverse and vibrant community.”
He said the document articulated a vision that had been reached with community input, identified important local sites and contained specific action plans.
“It also sets out an explicit 15-year implementation plan detailing who has responsibility for component parts of the vision.
“An urban design framework achieves outcomes in line with council’s full suite of policies, strategies and other guiding documents.”
He said the council was pleased with the level of community involvement in the development of the plan through workshops and written submissions.
Mr Walsh said the framework document ensured there would be “greater respect for the residential character throughout the neighbourhood” because there was now a “a clear statement that new buildings need to respect and add to the built and social character of the street and respond to the features of the immediate site”.
