A grand entry

By Lia Bichel
A MAJOR development featuring residential apartments and convenience stores will be built on Stud Road, despite it lacking 77 car spots.
Greater Dandenong councillors voted four to two to approve an amended application from Ammache Architects on Monday.
Cr Peter Brown said it was a “spectacular development” and Cr YouHorn Chea said it was one of the “most fantastic” applications he had seen.
The development at 176-180 Stud Road, which is a vacant former funeral parlour, will consist of two seven-storey buildings comprising 96 apartments, six convenience stores and basement parking.
Cr Peter Brown said he would like to see similar developments in the City of Greater Dandenong in the future.
“You don’t throw the baby out with the bath water – we ought to put the welcome mat out,” he said.
“This is the sort of development we need to encourage.”
But Cr Yvonne Herring and Cr John Kelly disagreed and voted against the application.
Cr Herring said she was very worried about the reduction of car spaces and Cr Kelly said it was “ludicrous” the application was passed.
“Stud Road is already a busy road – if (more people) start parking on the street, it’s going to be a nightmare. I imagine more problems would arise with the two buildings on either side of this development,”Cr Kelly said.
“We need to be mindful we want investment in the city but we need the right investment,” he said. “Is this what we want for the gateway? It’s totally out of character for what’s around it.”
Cr Brown said he agreed that the application did not fit in with the surrounding area but said it “would lift the area”.
He said he also thought the amount of proposed car parks, a total of 138, was sufficient for the development.
Ammache Acrhitects director Nidal Ammache said he did not believe parking would cause problems and said he thought the building would be a great benefit to Dandenong residents and visitors.
“It’s a great opportunity for Greater Dandenong residents to represent themselves as a second city,” he said.
“The whole purpose is that it is a gateway entrance. It’s a very highly designed architectural building with a very modern style, which will represent Dandenong in the next 10 years.”
Councillors Brown, Chea, Pinar Yesil and Loi Truong voted for the application.
Councillors Roz Blades, Maria Sampey, Angela Long and Paul Donovan were absent from the meeting and mayor Jim Memeti declared a conflict of interest as the applicant and he have a working relationship.