by Sahar Foladi
High-rise residential towers will be encouraged in new activity centres for Springvale, Noble Park, Yarraman and Dandenong stations, the Premier and the Minister for Planning announced last week.
The ‘train and tram zone’ activity centres overseen by the State Government is said to help local governments to achieve targets of 52,700 new homes in Greater Dandenong and 87,000 in Casey by 2051.
But a planning expert warns that the zones might lead to a spike in “unaffordable high-rise buildings”.
According to the government, there will be “more multi-storey residential buildings” in the “immediate core” of the station zones.
Within walking distance, there will be scaled height limits and more low-rise apartments and townhouses.
“It makes sense to allow more homes and height near public transport hubs – where else is better suited for it?,” Premier Jacinta Allan said.
“We’ve invested in public transport – building the Metro Tunnel, removing level crossings, adding more services and opening new stations – and now we’re ready to build the homes around it.”
Community consultation will open in April on the first tranche of train and tram zones.
City of Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti and chief executive officer Jacqui Weatherill were invited at the announcement in Noble Park on 27 February, unveilling the 25 activity centres across Victoria.
“We want to be part of the solution, help people make homes, everyone in the community should have right to have a roof over their head, we understand all that,” Cr Memeti said.
“But we have to understand that we have a community that we need to consult with and that’s what they released yesterday.
“I’m glad they’re not making just a decision but they said there will be plenty of opportunity for consultation.”
The government will introduce planning controls, reducing the structure-planning process to 12 months to build homes at speed.
Dr Benno Engels is a senior lecturer within the Urban Planning program within the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University.
He is concerned that this plan would result in a spike in unaffordable high-rise buildings in Greater Dandenong.
“It basically means that existing homes have to be demolished.
“They have to be replaced by presumably either denser townhouses or apartments and that, of course is causing anxiety among existing residents.
“They (residents) are already up in arms about the state government’s proposed (10) activity centres that are going to be also substantially densified with high rise developments that can go well over 12 storeys in height.
“This is just another attempt to increase densities.”
He says developers would scramble to buy the best blocks of land – within close proximity to facilities such as shopping centres, railway stations or hospitals – from existing owners.
“So that means developers is going to have to pay more (incentives) to try to get that land. They’re going to build medium sized developments, which could be anything from two to three to maybe eight floors.
“Now, who in Dandenong can potentially afford to live in this more expensive housing?
“I think it’s probably the problem that the State Government hasn’t thought through yet and I don’t know if there’s a solution to this.
“If it’s going to be left to the private sector to attempt to build this more densified housing, then it’s going to be more expensive.
“And people are already struggling in Greater Dandenong local government area.”
