21 Northumberland Road, Pascoe Vale VIC 3044

73 dwellings is too much fir an already crowded area. That’s potentially an extra 150 people in streets that are already difficult to park and drive on. Definitely seek a reduction in scale a d a 7 story desiring will stand out and not fit into the landscape.

A 7 story building in this street and this area is completely out of character for the area. I thought there would be a height restrictions in such a suburban street surrounded by parklands. Are there going to be 73 parking spaces built for 73 dwellings? and there is not sufficient parking in the street and surrounding area.

It is understandable that planning policy encourages a mix of housing types given proximity to Pascoe Vale station, however neighbourhood character provisions exist to ensure that higher density is not a shoehorned in, poorly designed blight on the streetscape

The development of a seven storey mass with a 60m long, poorly articulated frontage to Northumberland Road is inconsistent with the character of recent developments let around the surrounding neighbourhood.

The eastern side of Northumberland Rd has general residential zoning, and it would be sensible to conclude development would feather off to the edges of the growth zone, rather than supporting what will be the densest site in the growth zone in question. An appropriate townhouse or unit development is certainly warranted in this location, with acceptable vehicle access, breaks between built form, screening of rooftop services and landscaping.

I also seriously question whether the a single point of access to the basement carpark via a new crossover at the north eastern corner of the site is supportable or safe from a traffic engineering perspective.

If any local residents are interested in a consolidated response to this development, please contact me lmdallatorre@gmail.com

If this development is using car stackers good luck to those who live nearby....

My experience with a Car Stacker:
- They only offer 2 year warranty yet they cost in excess of 30k each
- Residents have to maintain them or they will fail
- In previous building, they stackers would constantly fail, the stacker company charge a premium to have it fixed as there is pretty much a monopoly here or duopoly. Residents cant afford to fix them so they either don't use them or use them the least amount of time possible so they dont break'
- They are noisy
- Takes ages to get out of the building at 8am and after 5 when people are loading them up.

All of this leads to cars on the street..... Stackers are not car parks, they are good for only getting away with not supplying a car park.

Council needs to reject applications with stackers unless the stacker is backed by a 10 year warranty. How can you say you have a car spot if it is only warrantied for 2 years...

73 dwellings is far too many for this area. There will be will be a significant increase in residents and too many cars for our community to cope with.
- Local primary schools are already beyond capacity. As is Strathmore Secondary College, these dwellings and all the other local high density dwellings popping up within the Strathmore Secondary zone will add to this strain and cause concern for local families with young children.
- Trains are already congested and this will only worsen as the increase in demand will no doubt not be met.
- This will also add further pressure to local resources such as local medical centres, supermarkets, supermarket parking etc

A reduction in car park requirements is a joke.
- Train commuters have had to migrate further from the station and are now parking along Northumberland Rd and in the surrounding streets such as Prospect St and Pleasant St due to the extensive developments in Fawkner street, Heath Street and Grover street and with recent parking restrictions in those streets. The streets around this proposed development and all the streets heading towards the station are already congested each weekday with cars of those who use the train. Residents of this dwelling with their 1-2 cars each, visitors to the area and train commuters will be competing for parking spaces.
- Northumberland Rd, Prospect Street and Fawkner Rd will also suffer heavier and more constant traffic as a consequence. This intersection and current pedestrian crossings will not be sufficient putting people’s safety at risk. My concern also extends to its close proximity to Austin Cresent Reserve and Gavin Park and the safety of our community accessing these spaces.

Along with the poor consideration of the practicalities of such a dwelling with the significant influx of residents and cars on our already tight local resources, a 7 storey building is going to look ridiculous. It will not be in keeping with dwellings within the area, it will be sitting on top of a hill, it will be visible from afar and will ruin the look of our neighbourhood.

It is great to see the community respond to this.

It appears that any appeal will just get overridden with appeals at VCAT or similar or minor modifications made as current 'bylaws' permit such building activity.

This is clearly evidenced by the council approving access to a very narrow, non used, dirt road rear alleyway behind 31, 33, 35 etc Austin Cres to allow entry to new developments on the street in the hope that suddenly after over 100 odd years of non use, the lane would be magically be able to transport cars etc.

Should we organise a march to Moreland council and hope they will hear us... or should we vote for candidates who will fix this problem.

If only we had the $$$ and political clout of Richmond or South Yarra.. etc. I am exhausted barking up the Moreland Trees :)

The proposed development is a disgrace.
It will totally dominate the streetscape.
There are no gaps between the buildings.
The architectural aesthetics will be the equivalent of a block of concrete( or rendered foam ) dumped on the street.
It will be so foreign to the area it is unbelievable.
Stacker car parks, just do not work. Couple this with a single driveway and people will only park on the road. It will be like creating an underground traffic jam every morning.

This is already an busy arterial and it is almost impossible to have visitors on the street already because of medium scale development. This development is so excessive it will ruin the street.
The argument that this is close to lots of amenities is false. Yes there is a train station, but there is no Coles. There is not places to eat at night unless you only want fish and chips or pizza, so everyone will *NEED* one or more cars.
The development does not look setback far enough and does not appear inline with the houses adjacent.
The common rooftop space will create noise that will travel across the street directly into houses east of the proposed site, which sits higher and therefore will be roughly inline with the height of the proposed common space. I live in one of these houses!!.
The proposal seems to overshadow Grover street quite significantly.
It looks like the dwellings will have poor internal amenities.
The underground build in is a cynical attempt to get around 4 storey height limits. Do we want our residents to live in dungeons? Is this a positive outcome for anyone, or are we only interested in building urban slums? This is not what growth zones are for !!

It seems that this proposal is so unacceptable that this is just a spurious proposal that will allow the developer to try and compromise on something that would be equally unacceptable had it been proposed.
I accept there is a need to more well planned urban density, but this proposal is just pushing the envelope too far.
Laws should be changed to fine developers for proposing such disgusting plans. It is the planning equivalent of frivolous litigation. They get away with murder and leave residents with the mess and cost of fighting it.

This development is not in keeping with the local area and will not add any value apart from to the developers who won’t be living there afterwards.

We are not a CBD area so don’t need skyscraper style apartment units being built here.

Infrastructure is already strained in this area and this type of development will only make matters worse.

This is a ridiculous notion to put 73 dwellings where 3 houses used to be!
If each dwelling has an average of 2 people that is 156 people living in a space designed for three houses. If only 1 third of them have a car that is over 50 extra cars in an already packed street. The trains are already at capacity and with an extra 100 people a day they wont cope.
This sets a precedent for the area that developers can build whatever they want, wherever they want without any regard for the current residents.
Until now development has been respectful and often hidden from the street and to jump from that to a 7 story apartment block is ridiculous.
Pascoe Vale is a family suburb, we live here to have peace and quite, gardens and sunlight and this building will take that away from the current residence.

The applicant is taking the matter to VCAT as council did not respond within the statutory timeframe - ie failure to decide
Objectors have until 13 December to lodge statements of grounds
lmdallatorre@gmail.com if anyone would like to discuss

To the developers, we the people of this area are sick of you only thinking about the $$$$$$ and not the people of the area ! We will put a stop to you ! We will not tolerate you destroying our area ! We will fight you all the way ! Enough is enouth it’s time for the government and council to listen to us ! Daniel andrews time to act now or next election you will be voted out !

I have been living in this street since 1998 and I have experienced the increase in traffic and problems with the cars parked on the street.
Permitting a 7 storey building permit in this street, which is already overcrowded with new developments and so far away from everything except the train station which is not so close either defies logic.
No, no, no. Not, plus a multi-storey one.

Dear Sir,

I've been following the updates with great distress regarding the re-development of 21-25 Northumberland Road, Pascoe Vale.

We've been living on Northumberland Road for the last 11 years. We moved in, with great excitement. It was a great pocket to bring children up and was affordable for new beginners like us. We had the parks, space, railway, close to freeway and some good schools.
I have always hoped for the area to pick up with some tasteful re-developments, a nice shopping strip to bring the community together where you see the locals and say "hello". Where the locals knew me and my children and created that "village" I've always dreamt about.
Soon after though, my dreams start demolishing with every old house knocked down and the small, ugly units started rising in every corner. It seems to me that Pascoe Vale has become the "bastard" child of Moreland City council. -Excuse my language-. The station end of the suburb is already tight, we wait for about five trains to cross the railway each morning or get back from work. It's now not possible to park near that area to pop into a pharmacy etc if you're in rush and not to be able to walk. Each street on that hill, the cars are parked on each side, you need to wait for the upcoming traffic to be able to proceed.

Moreland City council has long given up on Pascoe Vale and I don't understand how they could not see the nightmare they're creating in this area as there's no return from this mistake. I remember the council seeking the opinion of locals regarding the development on the corner of Railway Pde and Gaffney St at some stage. I still think it's such a mistake to fill that corner with yet another building. That corner should have been developed into a little piazza, some little shops, something that the locals could've walked and enjoyed a little stroll.

73 apartments on a suburban street, on a hill, in an area already so crammed, underdeveloped with infrastructure, parking space and everything is just the last slap on the face of the residents. Years to come, if I'm unable to do anything about this development today, I will be embarrassed to face the future children of this suburb.

I'm all for the area's growth and development but with some thought, taste and planning within its capacity. If this capacity to be pushed, this also should be done with reason and other investments. The investor will build the apartment in six months and walk away with its pocket full but the locals including those new buyers will live with the consequences for the years to come.

I really hope that the council will manage to work in unity to oppose this development to offer some faith to its residents.

Kind regards,

Hi to all,

I think it's great that a project of this scale is occurring in this area. The large number of proposed dwellings (73) is likely to have a positive impact on Gaffney Village and contribute to more foot traffic there which will definitely contribute to increased business activity and local job creation. It would also contribute to increased community interactions and a greater sense of community in the area.

At the moment, Gaffney village is quite lacking in amenities and lacks variety in terms of the number of business (food venues, retail, etc.) available for residents to access. Higher-density developments would certainly make a positive impact in supporting existing business in incentivising new business to prop up in the area.
Moreover, this hilly side of Pascoe Vale is in an excellent location for large higher density developments due to its proximity to the train station, Gaffney village, City Link, good schooling zones, shopping centre access (DFO Essendon), large number of parks and due to other large nearby developments already in place. It is starting to bring a city vibe with a suburban lifestyle - which is great as residents can enjoy the best of both worlds.

I totally support this project and from experience can say that this project would make an overall positive impact on the overwhelming majority of residents in the area and provide extra support to local business to expand or for new businesses to open in the area. It would increase the turnout to the plethora of parks and reserves in the area which at the moment are quite deserted and lacks community activity. Increasing population in the area through this development would certainly make a positive impact in increasing turnout to parks and increase the sense of community and social interaction at parks. It would make parks less scary as they will be deserted less often. The increasing population would also incentivise the council to invest more in the area through amenities and facilities to cater for the population, which would otherwise not be possible.

It would be utterly selfish towards everyone else in the area to reject this project which would bring so much benefit to the area just because one does not like big buildings, or would like to live in a past era where people built just one building on a block. Times have changed, the population has changed, demographic has changed, its time for those peoples' mindset to change as well!!

Kind Regards