By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A proposal for two backyard townhouses in Springvale has been refused by the state’s planning tribunal.
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal rejected the plan for twin two-storey dwellings behind an existing three-storey home at 13 Burden Street.
The proponent had appealed to VCAT after City of Greater Dandenong’s initial refusal of a planning permit.
On 10 February, VCAT member Tracy Watson found the closely-spaced proposed dwellings at the back of the 61-metre deep block were at odds with the “obvious open, rearyard character” of the neighbourhood.
“This neighbourhood feature was something that particularly struck me during my site inspection.
“The proposal has not adequately responded to the sensitive rearyard interfaces and rearyard character of this immediate neighbourhood.”
According to the council’s planning scheme for the area, there was an emphasis on “spines” of backyard open space areas to “maximise landscaping opportunities”, Ms Watson noted.
Any new double-storey homes on the site would require “substantial landscaping” and allow for the growing of mature canopy trees.
But the proposed rear home was screened by “only hedge planting”, due to the narrow setbacks from the next-door properties.
“I find that this is an insufficient landscaping response.”
The applicant RD Design and Drafting Pty Ltd argued that the site was relatively near Springvale Major Activity Centre and railway station.
It also pointed to other backyard developments in the area.
However Ms Watson found none of them had a “comparable intensity to the proposal before me”.
The 11-metre, three-storey existing home was the only building of that height in the neighbourhood, she stated.
