A seven-storey apartment block may go up on the edge of Footscray Park after Maribyrnong council unsuccessfully fought to claim the land as its own.
Toorak-based developer Felsink last month lodged an application for a 36-unit project on a carpark at 2B Ballarat Road, 25 years after it redeveloped the adjacent 1845-built Pioneer Hotel.
In the 1990s, Felsink director John Osbourne was granted approval to build 36 apartments on the hotel site so long as a “multi-purpose public facility” was built on adjoining Crown land within 10 years.
Failing that, the developer was required to forfeit the carpark land to the council.
Felsink eventually submitted several proposals, including a conference centre and a Stokehouse-style restaurant, but all either lapsed or were rejected.
After the 10 years had passed, the council lay claim to the carpark site, which had already mistakenly been transferred to its ownership.
But in 2010, Supreme Court Justice David Habersberger found the council had erred in rejecting Felsink’s final proposal, which effectively repudiated the agreement.
The land therefore reverted to Felsink despite the “multi-purpose public facility” never being built.
In 2013, despite 50 objections from neighbours, Felsink successfully applied for removal of a covenant that had restricted use of the site to car- parking.
Zoning was also changed from public space to residential, paving the way for the latest application.
However, the proposal now before the council faces planning restrictions on the site aimed at protecting the parkland and Maribyrnong River.
The design overlay seeks to “protect areas along the Maribyrnong River from visual intrusion caused by the inappropriate siting or appearance of buildings and works”.
Development must uphold “the character and appearance of the area” and “enhance the skyline when viewed from the river and its banks”.
A design appraisal submitted with the application notes that a seven-storey building with 120 units already approved on the south side of Ballarat Road “will change the future character of the precinct”.
It suggests the new proposal is an opportunity to “balance” the project and reinforce a “gateway” into Footscray.
Former Footscray mayor Bill Horrocks said the hotel site’s redevelopment had been controversial, and the new plan would also face a backlash.
“The whole thing has been most unfortunate from an aesthetic and design perspective.”
Felsink did not respond by deadline.
