Tara Murray
Redevelopment plans for two former Brimbank school sites have been knocked back by Brimbank council.
Plans to redevelop the former Calder Rise site, on Green Gully Road, Keilor, and the Deer Park primary school site on Ballarat Road, had been submitted to council in recent months.
Both were among five sites sold in 2017, that the state government had deemed “surplus” to the education department’s needs in 2014.
Fastnet Consulting submitted a planning permit application for the Old Calder Rise site on behalf of the site owner, Mayflower Brighton, in July last year.
Documents submitted to the council sought a permit for the construction of a residential aged care facility providing more than 130 aged care beds, 40 single-storey low care units along with an integrated community centre, onsite parking, tree removal and landscaping.
During public consultation, the council received 19 submissions relating to the submission, including a petition with 91 signatures opposing the proposal and one submission in support.
Brimbank council’s city development director Kelvin Walsh said the grounds for refusal included concerns about the impact of aircraft noise on the amenity of future residents, traffic and safety concerns, non-compliance with state and local planning policy and citing issues of the built form.
Aljasser Group Pty Ltd, which owns the former Deer Park Primary School site, wants to turn that location into a community hub with a mixture of residential and retail opportunities.
An application for approval of a development plan was submitted to the council in June 2019.
Plans submitted included the development of 40 to 50 double-storey townhouses, 10 to 12 three-storey townhouses, 150 to 200 apartments and retail, commercial, and food and beverage opportunities, car parking, and a medical building.
A permit was refused under delegation in November last year. The council had received nine submissions against the proposal.
Mr Walsh said the council’s grounds for refusal included concerns about the scale of the proposed buildings, unresolved traffic and parking issues, impact on the adjoining heritage-listed former school building, lack of ability to achieve a 30 per cent canopy coverage across the site and insufficient information about the proposed native vegetation removal.
