A developer has gained approval for a five-storey apartment complex in Spotswood, after five years battling residents, Hobsons Bay council and the state’s planning tribunal.
The council last week granted Planning & Property Partners (PPP) a permit for a five-storey and a three-storey building at 637 Melbourne Road. The development will comprise 35 two-bedroom dwellings and 42 car spaces.
PPP, acting for Melbourne Cup Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of Omni Property Group), originally applied to build an eight-storey and a three-storey building with 74 dwellings on the site in 2012.
Plans then changed to one eight-storey building with 56 apartments, which was refused by the council in 2014.
Before the council’s decision was unsuccessfully challenged on appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, plans were scaled back to five storeys.
The latest proposal, advertised in February, was amended according to VCAT recommendations and was last week approved by the council with a raft of conditions.
PPP director Paul Little told
Star Weekly the final proposal was “respectful of the character of the area and the amenity of nearby residents”.
“The proposal that was considered by council [last week] has clearly been revised specifically to deal with the issues that council raised previously, and indeed we’re very pleased with the officer’s detailed assessment, and ratification of that assessment by the council.
“The proposal has been designed to transition from five levels on the eastern half of the site at the Melbourne Road interface and down to three levels on the western side.”
Nearby at 455 Melbourne Road, Newport, The Shakespeare Group is developing a five-storey, 34-dwelling apartment complex, being marketed as ‘The New’.
