Wednesday, 23 February 2022

Bayside planning scheme amendment

Petition

Mr HAYES (Southern Metropolitan) (17:35): I rise to talk to e-petition 407 in relation to a review of development plans under Bayside planning scheme amendment C162. The petition draws to the attention of the Legislative Council that Bayside council failed to support its own planning scheme in relation to the approval of development plans for the former CSIRO site at 37 Graham Road, Highett—a very important development site with some native grasslands included in it.

Approval was granted to Sunkin Property Group to develop the site in a manner that contradicts development plan overlay DPO2 in Bayside planning scheme amendment C162, authorised on 30 June 2020. Now, this amendment allowed some 400 dwellings on the 5-hectare site, but the subsequent plan has grown to 1022 dwellings, comprising seven-, six- and five-storey towers and numerous two- and three-storey townhouses. If this new overdevelopment proceeds there will be a significant negative impact on the traffic flow, which is already chaotic, as well as the character of the Highett neighbourhood.

Paragraph 4 of the initial development plan, DPO2 under amendment C162, requires the layout and height of the proposed buildings in the development to be a gradation of building heights across the site, with two to three storeys where development abuts existing residential development, up to four storeys in the central area of the site and up to six storeys at the northern end of the site. Bayside City Council, however, has now agreed to a plan for a mixture of the above heights but with the inclusion of 11 towers which are seven or six storeys high.

There were over 820 submissions in respect to the development plan, of which 80 per cent were strongly opposed to this new proposal. Key concerns were the increase in traffic, parking and the size and scale of the development. The development plan approval for 1022 dwellings will overload existing infrastructure such as Bay Road and Highett Road and the Highett railway crossing intersection. It will lead to the narrowing of the two-lane Graham Road and Middleton Street, which service the site. The existing streetscapes will be destroyed by the development’s towers.

The petitioners ask that the Legislative Council call on the government to revoke the approval granted by Bayside City Council to Sunkin Property Group’s proposed development of the former CSIRO site in Highett and to require Bayside City Council to consult directly with resident groups in the Highett community and adhere to Bayside planning scheme amendment C162 as it was approved by the Minister for Planning.