Geelong Council Reject 57 to 59 The Parade Ocean Grove
57-59 The Parade – 12.4 metres high, Across 2 blocks
Visit the ‘Say no to high rise development in OG‘ facebook page for more info and to support the local resident GoFundMe page.
Geelong Council Reject 57 to 59 The Parade Ocean Grove
All 6 Councillors at tonights Planning Committee Meeting Voted to Reject this Development Application.
18 Objectors were present which helped with this excellent result.
In a few weeks the development goes to VCAT for a 3 day hearing in Melbourne.
Councils Rejection – and support for the strong planning report will help VCAT make the correct desicion to Rect this monstrous overdevelopment.
from UXD development application
A community led group has commenced a GFM page to raise funds to fight a proposed 3 story 17 apartment 12.4 metre high development at 57-59 The Parade in VCAT.
Funds raised will cover the costs of professional defence at the VCAT Hearing on April 26th.
Because the developer has lodge this in VCAT – VCAT will decide if this project is approved or rejected.
The Developer will be using big, expensive legal guns to support this 12.4 metre high monolith.
To help the local objectors stop this project they need funds to defent the NO case in VCAT.
Winning this defence will set a strong precedent for the next development to be rejected.
If this fails then the whole high density zone around the Ocean Grove Shopping precinct will end up as 3 storey appatments, completely changing the character if Ocean Grove.
Any amountof money is welcomed. All money raised will help us all keep Ocean Grove as Ocean Grove as we know it.
Thank you from the group of local residents fighting this development.
The developer lodged this with VCAT because Council didnt approve this project in the minimum time allowed.
Now the project will be decided by VCAT.
Here is the Objection we lodged with VCAT:
City of Greater Geelong- Modified for VCAT Statement of Grounds
OBJECTION – PLANNING APPLICATION 57-59 THE PARADE OCEAN GROVE
The Ocean Grove Community Association’s objection to the revised planning application is based on:
Character and Fit
The proposed development simply does not reflect the policies contained in the Ocean Grove section of Clause 11.03-6L-01 with respect to reasonable sharing of views & the requirement for the proposed building to reflect & respect existing scale, setbacks, spacing & building form of the surrounding residential area.
The building is completely at odds with the surrounding neighbourhood character, it will adversely impact the amenity of nearby neighbours and there appears to be serious overlook and shadowing impacts.
Further the development will exacerbate the already problematic on street parking issues along this street despite the development providing car parking spaces in accordance with the standard.
Overshadowing
The major impact of sunlight blocking overall on properties to the east and west and also those properties directly opposite the proposed development on the south side of the Parade.
The application states “The impact of overshadowing has been considered and mitigated as best possible…” This statement does not consider if the overshadowing impact to residents of the surrounding properties is acceptable nor does it quantify in any way the result of “mitigated as best possible”.
The developer’s revised application states: “Building shadow casts will be limited to between 9am to 11am. The property of 121 (should be 55B) The Parade will have clear access to daylight from 11am onwards.” The developer’s reference to 121 The Parade has been copied from the application to develop 123 The Parade.
Ocean Grove is not an inner-city location. It is unacceptable to remove daylight from an adjoining property before 11am. Note that daylight is also lost from dawn to 9am. This is the equinox shadow time. Access to daylight will be significantly reduced in winter.
Overlooking
There are major direct overlook impacts for the properties to the east, north, west and south of the proposed development from the developments upstairs balconies.
The proposed level 2 and 3 units have no private space as all surrounding properties can see into the balcony areas.
The unit balconies overlook all the surrounding properties removing any existing entitlement to their existing private space. Provision of private open space is a requirement in the planning scheme for this zone.
View Sharing
This site is subject to Design & Development Overlay 14 which is aimed at ensuring a reasonable sharing of views from neighbouring properties. Properties to the north, east and west of the proposed development will suffer significant impact on view. For the properties north of the proposed development there will be very limited reasonably equitable sharing.
Relative to the general topology of Ocean Grove, the size of the building at 12m above ground will interfere with the existing views of numerous properties North, North East and North West for several kilometres from the subject site.
This is a direct contravention of DDO14.
Building Height
The maximum building height allowed is 10.5m. The application states the height is 10.5m. However, the diagrams on page 3 (View Impact – West Elevation) of the application’s View Impact Assessment shows the building to exceed 10.5m.
Elevation plans in the revised plans show that the building height excluding the large building plant structure is 10.6m and 12m above ground level including the large plant structure. Dimensioning in the Elevation drawings seems designed to hide the actual height.
The planning scheme states that only aerials and chimneys can exceed 10.5m. The large plant structure 12m above ground and 2 to 2.2m above the roof will interfere with views for many surrounding properties on higher ground, with existing views.
Street Congestion
Visitors to the site would be unlikely to use the basement car parking (lack of means to open garage door) and so exacerbate the already problematic on street parking issues along this street. The current situation often requires vehicles to stop to allow vehicles traveling in the opposite direction to pass due to on street parking.
Larger parked cars on both sides of The Parade could easily block access to buses, delivery vans and garbage trucks.
Increasing the number of vehicles that will be parked in the street as a consequence of this development at 57-59 The Parade will increase the risk and danger of accidents and near misses.
Precedent
To our knowledge, this is the first planning application for a very large multistorey building in Ocean Grove across two separate lots. Reading the planning schemes for RGZ3, there is no discussion of this number of units across multiple lots.
The aim of RGZ3 is to increase density in the proximity of the shopping precinct. We assert that 17 units in one building over 2 lots irreversibly negatively impacts the urban amenity of Ocean Grove.
Approval of this application sets a bad precedent that will permanently degrade the character of Ocean Grove.
