Cardinia Council has issued something of an apology to Beaconsfield residents in approving a four-unit development backing on to the village’s shopping strip.
The development would replace a single family home and would be the first two-storey unit build near the shopping precinct – heralding a shift from village to suburbia.
Seven objections to the units had been submitted to the council; fearing an overbuild of the site, risk to pedestrians from increased traffic, being out of character with surrounding residences, and inadequate parking at the corner block.
Councillors at Monday night’s town planning committee meeting said that there simply weren’t grounds to reject the application.
While some councillors flagged reservations about the development, they said there were no town planning reasons for refusal.
Cr Brett Owen said the units were close to the town centre and public transport, near schools, the design and proposed building materials were sensitive to the amenity of the area and the development offered diversity in housing choices in the activity centre, which was to be desired.
The units were also consistent with the Beaconsfield Activity Centre guidelines, and State planning and building guidelines.
Cr Leticia Wilmot said the decision wouldn’t sit well with residents, and she wasn’t sure it sat well with her, but there were no sound grounds for refusing the permit.
Cr Collin Ross indicated that Beaconsfield residents – and others – would have to get used to this new level of development.
He said that this kind of proposal – and decision – would come up more and more, as larger blocks in older residential areas came on the market.
The only consolation came when Cr Brett Owen suggested the council put in the hard work to more clearly define ’neighbourhood character’, which would make it easier to assess applications in different neighbourhoods in the future.
