By Goya Dmytryshchak
After being embroiled in Victoria’s longest planning dispute against the high-rise residential development at the Port Phillip Woollen Mill site, the Save Williamstown residents’ group is rallying against a new proposal.
Plans for the first six-storey residential and retail development in Douglas Parade have been refused by Hobsons Bay council and will be heard at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal next month.
Holtfield Pty Ltd has applied to Hobsons Bay council to demolish the single-storey commercial building at 66 Douglas Parade, on the corner of Stevedore Street, to make way for the development.
Bryce Raworth conservation and heritage consultancy, acting for the building’s owners, believes the demolition of the existing building, formerly Burke and Co. Drapers, would pose no issues from a heritage perspective.
A report prepared for the applicant by Matrix Planning Australia states the Williamstown Activity Centre, which is predominantly one to two storeys in building height, appears to be underdeveloped.
“There appears to have been little development pressure in recent years for higher development unlike other major activity centres in metropolitan Melbourne” it stated.
“The proposal represents perhaps the first of more dense developments that would be expected to occur in the future.”
Save Williamstown treasurer Daniel McKinnon said the group would represent residents at the VCAT appeal.
“We see the Burke’s proposal as the thin end of the wedge,” he said. “We do not want to see high-rise buildings springing up along Williamstown’s retail strips.
“This has happened in other parts of Melbourne. We want council to look ahead and provide a set of rules for development in these areas.
“Williamstown has a lot of history. It is a tourist destination because of its heritage. We don’t want to see that destroyed by a planning policy vacuum.”
Mr McKinnon said the group understood that Melbourne’s population was growing and more homes were needed near public transport.
“Over the last 10 years, there are many developments, especially near the train stations, that we have not objected to,” he said.
