Tara Murray
A major housing development near Sunshine station has been knocked back by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Last late month, a VCAT panel said it shared Brimbank council’s concerns about a planning application for 99 Derby Street, which includes 191 two and three-story townhouses and 118 apartments across six five-storey apartment buildings along with a food and drink premise.
The developer, SMA Projects, took the council to VCAT after Brimbank council refused a permit under delegation in November.
The 2.5 hectare site, which is former industrial land, forms part of the Sunshine Activity Centre.
The VCAT panel of Bill Sibonis and Alison Glynn said while the proposal has elements that respond well to its strategic setting, it agreed with the council that the detail of the proposal was unacceptable.
“The council’s position is that while it supports the strategic intent of the proposal it considers the development lacks acceptable internal and external amenity outcomes that derive from poor resolution of the details in the development design,” they said.
“Having considered the submissions and the evidence, with regard to the relevant policies and provisions of the planning scheme, assisted by our inspection, we have determined to affirm the council’s decision.”
The panel said it had a number of concerns about site management issues.
It said it was not satisfied with the detail provided about how the roads in the area would be functioned or managed, while they had concerns about both the decrease of parking spots for tenants and the location of visitor parking.
The application wanted to reduce the number of spaces by 37 spaces across the 118 apartments.
Traffic engineer Tim De Young, who was speaking for the applicant, said he was satisfied the reduced resident parking was acceptable given the proximity to public transport and the town centre.
The panel thought otherwise.
“We are not persuaded that the extent of reduced parking is acceptable,” the panel said. “This is particularly for the larger three and four-bedroom dwellings.”
