Unit squeeze

By Shaun Inguanzo
NOBLE Park residents are upset councillors have allowed a developer to build 18 two-bedroom units on land that they say would struggle to fit two homes.
Thirteen people living in and around Hanna Street earlier this year objected to the development which will corner with Chandler Road.
Head objector Rina Abdulle said the three-storey development would be out of character with its family surroundings.
She said it could generate parking problems and subject elderly or single tenants to the ongoing drug problem in Hanna Street.
But town planners recommended councillors approve the development because it met planning requirements.
Ms Abdulle said meeting minimum standards did not put residents’ minds at ease.
The development also includes 21 car parks but Ms Abdulle said with two bedrooms per unit the development’s residents could need up to 36 car spaces.
She said Hanna Street had limited on-street parking and residents would end up parking at a nearby medical centre.
“I have observed people injecting themselves along Hanna Street,” she said.
“Given the drug problem I am concerned if a young or elderly woman parks at the centre and has to walk back, it could be unsafe for them.”
Noble Park Ward councillor Pinar Yesil voted in favour of the application but later said the site was an overdevelopment.
She said the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal would most likely accept the plan so she did not want to waste money taking the case to the tribunal.
“I don’t want to waste ratepayers money by going to VCAT when the application meets all of its planning obligations,” she said.
City of Greater Dandenong planning and design manager Jody Bosman denied the site was an overdevelopment.
“It comfortably fits all of the planning criteria,” he said.
The site is 600 metres from Yarraman train station and is just a short walk from two medical centres.
Mr Bosman said high-density development would increase around ‘activity centres’ – places where services and public transport were located.
He said the applicant, architect John Garofalo, was experienced in building multistorey developments in the area.
The site on Hanna Street and Chandler Road is 540 square metres.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics building approvals data says as of July 2004 the average new home size is 239 square metres, while the average residential land size is 735 square metres.