A developer has lost his bid to build a seven-storey apartment block in Pier Street, Altona, after the state’s planning tribunal upheld Hobsons Bay council’s refusal to grant a permit.
Footscray-based Fremont Homes had lodged an appeal at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to build what would have been Altona’s tallest residential building on the site of the old Boccelli restaurant at 118 Pier Street.
Fremont hoped to build 31 dwellings over five storeys, an 87-square-metre ground floor retail premises with 19 parking spaces, and a mezzanine level with 26 apartment stores and 14 parking spaces.
VCAT presiding member Geoffrey Code and member Chris Harty said the council’s approval of two five-storey developments close by did not justify Fremont’s proposal, which was on a lot measuring just 20.1metres wide.
They said most problems associated with the proposal could be overcome if one residential level was removed.
Hobsons Bay mayor Colleen Gates said the VCAT decision was a big win for the community.
“We believe the bulk and height of the seven-storey building does not align with the council or community’s vision for Altona’s future,” she said.
“This proposal does not deliver the quality architecture that our community has come to expect for Pier Street.”
