This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE new owners of the former Alphington paper mill site in Fairfield, Melbourne have received a major boost with the Planning Minister approving planning controls for a 1,500-dwellings development.
Alpha Partners and the Glenvill Group yesterday bought the site from Amcor for $120 million.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy has approved the implementation of new planning controls for the site, overriding the City of Yarra’s previous planning controls.
The minister has approved for high rise apartments of up to 14 storeys on the corner of Heidelberg Rd and the Chandler Highway, above the eight storeys set by the council.
Guy also reduced the mandatory setback from the crestline of the river bank to 10 metres, as opposed to the council’s 20 metres.
However Guy has greatly reduced the development size permitted on the site, 1,500 dwellings compared to the council’s 1,749 dwellings.
“The Development Plan Overlay is also likely to yield a significant reduction in the overall number of dwellings provided at the site, relative to previously approved plans.
“Recent council approved planning controls on the site permitted up to 1,749 dwellings, allowing up to four storeys on the Yarra River and up to six storeys in the spine of the site. This would have provided for a significant increase in overall site density compared to what I have now approved,” Guy said.
Guy said the controls strike the right balance between protection, certainty and a boost for the local economy.
The introduction of a Development Plan Overlay at the Alphington Paper Mill site also supersedes the Incorporated Plan Overlay introduced by former Planning Minister Justin Madden in 2009.
“The clumsy planning controls introduced by the former Planning Minister had limited detail and provided no certainty for any stakeholders in relation to height controls, setbacks and overall built form. The Incorporated Plan Overlay, in its original form, was never going to allow for a sensible development outcome at this critical infill opportunity,” Guy said.
Amendment C200 to the Yarra Planning Scheme will be gazetted shortly and will allow the development to commence.
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