SAVE WILLIAMSTOWN
SAVE WILLIAMSTOWN
Hobsons Bay Council votes for Planning Scheme Amendments - 25m maximum height for the whole site
Music to the ears of a group of about 40 Save Williamstown supporters who attended Hobsons Bay Council to witness councillors voting to support two new planning amendments for the Former Port Phillip Woollen Mill Site - the decisions of Matthew Guy which impacted so badly on Williamstown are relegated to history in the same way that the Oriental was destroyed by the developer - a political decision of the NEW Government is about to make our community happy.
NO LONGER "the sky's the limit" to quote the Developer's urban design expert but the sane 25m limit which uses the National Trust Principal in a Heritage Area where on a large site, buildings in the centre of the site can be higher because they are masked by the height of the peripheral buildings.
In November 2014, Labor and the Greens made an election commitment to support proper height controls at the Former Port Phillip Woollen Mills Site based on 3 weeks of proper community consultation in 2011.
Hobsons Bay Council voted unanimously tonight on Planning Scheme Amendments which adopt recommendations of the Port Phillip Woollen Mill Advisory Committee Report. By contrast, the previous Liberal Planning Minister Matthew Guy ignored the recommendations of his own advisory committee when he allowed ANY height of buildings as long as HB Council (in reality VCAT) granted a permit.
The Community, Council and industries like Mobil and BAE System saw VCAT implement Matthew Guy's Planning Scheme with barely a cross-out from the developers desires. It was a nightmare for local residents who were powerless in VCAT. An "indicative" height of 25m in the planning scheme became an approved height of 34m and this high apartment building was approved only 10m from an 1855 heritage wooden cottage in Cecil St. Earlier the developer had even applied for 40m in the 25m indicative height zone before making a late change at VCAT...
Sadly, what is approved by specific permits already by handed down by VCAT cannot be undone but any future applications will fall under the controls of the new amendments. AND any changes which the developer tries to make will fall under the PLANNING LAW of the new amendment. Lets hope facetiously that the business model of minimising risk “successfully” use in Evolve Projects and quoted in Business Review Weekly does not work and these townhouses and apartments do not get enough purchases off plan to allow the construction phase to begin.. Then messrs Walker and Williams will be instructing their team of lawyers, barristers, planning specialists such as Urbis to make new applications within the terms of the new amendments. 4 YEARS of Labor Government, supported by the Greens on this issue, will see the Community being considered and industry being considered as they ought to have been considered in 2009 when Save Williamstown was first established.....
The election promise of the ALP and Greens was that firm maximum height limits as determined in the public consultation process of the Port Phillip Woollen Mill Advisory Committee could again be incorporated into the Hobsons Bay Planning Scheme as long as Hobsons Bay Council made the appropriate submissions to the NEW Minister for Planning Richard Wynne.
TONIGHT the changes to the Planning Scheme (Amendments 104 and 105) were adopted by unanimous vote at Council
Many community members from Save Williamstown celebrated this landmark decision at the Council Chamber.
More details can be read on the website
http://www.savewilliamstown.net/Save_Williamstown/Home.html
with links to the Council Agenda and Appendix 7
Tuesday, 24 February 2015