VCAT rules: 8-storey, and no construction until contamination has been identified and removed

Little Projects has lost its appeal for a ten-story building on the former Tip Top Bakery site in Edward Street Brunswick East.  The company also lost its appeal to start construction before the environmental audit is complete.

In a ruling released on Friday March 18, VCAT says LPD Developments’ permit should be modified to eight-storey. The ruling re-iterates the DDO of ’5-storey maximum’ on the site, is the maximum height required before a permit is required. Therefore the ‘minimum’ height that a permit is required for the site would be six-storey.

The reasons it gives is that a building higher than 8 (as it is in a side street) would ‘strike a discordant note’ with the council plan of achieving a consistent scale for the the Lygon Activity corridor (see page  14).

It is disappointing VCAT overruled Moreland’s initial decision and allowed an extra storey above what Council permitted.

VCAT needs drastic reform – it is a minefield for residents, but still a field of opportunity for developers.

If residents had appealed the decision in October the result could have been worse as our appeal would have been at the ‘sting of the tail’ of what groups call ‘Madden’s madness’, since been slightly unravelled by the new government, but mostly still leaving design open to interpretation.

After Sept 20 last year, the VC71 State Planning policy allowed for intense development off main roads, watered down criteria for impacting residents and threw out good-design principals.

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