Residents and business owners are waging a fight against a proposed 17-unit development on Gamon Street in Yarraville, fearing the project will change the character of the area.
The $5 million development for 83 Gamon Street will go before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on June 25 after being knocked back by Maribyrnong council in December.
The three-storey proposal for the 1025-square-metre property, presently the site of three shopfronts, was supported by a council report that found the design “responds to the pattern and rhythm of development in the street”.
But the proposal attracted 51 objections and councillors voted to refuse the project on the grounds of its amenity impact and failure to respect the area’s heritage significance or neighbourhood character.
The secretary of Seddon Community Group, Pam Mulready, said minor modifications made ahead of the VCAT hearing had failed to address resident’s concerns about the development.
“The bulk and scale of it is just immense,” said Ms Mulready.
Maria Pollifroni, whose mother has lived directly to the south of the site since 1964, said the proposal’s height was out of keeping with the area.
“It seems they’re trying to milk everything out of the property that they can to the detriment of everybody else,” she said.
A planning report for applicant Real Property Investors by SJB Planning stated the scale of the development was appropriate for the location.
