PlanningAlerts

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1. RE: Objection to planning application TPA/44171 – Construction of three (3) double storey dwellings with car parking and landscaping at 30 Ashwood Drive, Ashwood.

   We, Vanessa Cowley and Luke Garrick, of 65 Ashwood Drive, Ashwood wish to lodge an objection to the above planning application for the reasons outlined below:

   1. The proposed development of 3 residences on this site is in no way in keeping with the current streetscape of Ashwood drive which consists almost entirely of single dwellings. There is no precedent for the construction of three large double storey dwellings on similar sized lots in the local area and therefore it is detrimental to the existing neighbourhood character. Three dwellings on such a sized block is excessive and unacceptable development for this area. Further, the extent of the building across the site does not provide adequate areas of private open space for recreation purposes, in addition to no allowing planting of canopy trees on site. This does not therefore complement or enhance the Garden City Character of the City of Monash.

   2. Our property is on the opposite side of the street, immediately to the west from the proposed development. The large visual bulk will be clearly visible from the front of our property and poses an unacceptable change to the streetscape, which again is out of character with the rest of the neighbourhood, and we feel represents significant overdevelopment. The large imposing visual mass, which from the plans seems to be set far further forward than other dwellings on the street, has a significant and negative effect on the outlook from our home, and will be an anomaly in the street.

   3. We are very concerned that there will be a significant impact regarding established vegetation removal. The plans indicate that the only tree to be retained is the tree located within the north west corner of the front yard. There are also discrepancies between the plans with the ‘Design Response’ plan showing the retention of two trees located in the north east corner of the rear part of the site while other plans indicate that these trees are to be removed. Given the position of the proposed buildings, it seems impossible that these established trees will be able to be retained. As such, this represents an unacceptable loss of existing and established vegetation – ie 1 of 9 trees to be retained, and is inconsistent with the Garden City character the City of Monash aims to achieve.

   Additionally, the planned driveway extends almost the entire length of the south side boundary and will prevent the planting of any canopy trees to help screen the considerable building bulk when viewed from the south, which detrimentally impacts us directly and considerably.

   4. Finally, referring to your Reformed Residential Zones for Victoria March 2013 update, this block will fall under Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ), where it is outlined that the sort of housing that can be expected is:
   “Single dwellings and dual occupancies under some circumstances”

   The proposed development of 3 dwellings is therefore well out of step with the new reforms proposed for residential zones in the City of Monash. Further, this block of land will become designated “Creek Environs” under the proposed “Amendment C125” of the Monash Housing Strategy which aims to further protect and enhance the garden city character of Monash. This development is not in line with such aspiration.

   We attended the council meeting regarding these proposed reforms (June 2015) and we were informed that these proposed planning restrictions would be taken into account for all applications even though the amendment has not yet been passed. We sincerely hope this is the case with this application as we believe it represents a gross overdevelopment in an area that has been flagged by council as needing to be protected from overdevelopment, and in particular, this development does not satisfy the objectives of Clause 55 of the Monash Planning Scheme (ResCode) in terms of neighbourhood character and landscaping.

2. This is a highly inappropriate development for this local environment!

   a) 3 two story units on a standard block is overly dense
   b) It is ugly and out of character for the street
   c) The high density will increase the parking problems on Ashwood drive - where will their children safely park their cars? I think suburban streets like ours should be safe for adults and kids to cycle on - but lots of cars parked on the street (that inevitably will follow more high density development) stops this being viable. - Especially on a street like Ashwood drive with its bends and undulations greatly reducing visibility.
   Inevitably much undercover car storage space become non car storage and perhaps 3 or more cars will need to be parked outside the garages. The shared driveways prevents the use of driveway for parking -so we will likely have 3 or more cars parked on the road -until their kids have cars and perhaps then we will have 9 cars from this site parked along the street!!!
   d) The greatly reduced vegetation is not consistent with the neighbourhood character and aspiration to be greener rather than "concrete (ier)...”.
   e) The low permeability makes flooding of downhill properties more probable (after flooding the underground parking first)
   f) This development seems to have no regard for the requirements of the creek environs planning scheme - I could catalogue those many faults but I shall leave that to others..
   g) The site permeability calculation appears not to include one carport area and would appear to be non-compliant
   h) it’s hard to take seriously - It is so ridiculously unsuitable that surely it must be an ambit claim softening us up to accept 2 units?
   i) why does the vCHMP specify that the vCHMP is only valid for up to 2 units on this site when this is a 3 unit development?

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