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Tuesday 22 April 2025
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Frankston future More multi-storey buildings will be approved in Frankston under new planning guidelines approved last week. Pictures: Gary Sissons
Green light for new heights Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au NEW height limits in Frankston’s CBD have been gazetted by the planning minister, and are set to be put to the test soon. On 11 April, planning minister Sonya Kilkenny gazetted C160fran. The planning scheme amendment applies the changes put forward in the FMAC Structure Plan, including preferred height limits of up to 16 storeys in Frankston’s city centre. The FMAC Structure Plan has been in the works for four years, and was finetuned throughout the entirety of the pre-
vious Frankston Council term. At their final meeting before the November local government elections, councillors sent the planning guidelines to the minister for final approval. It won’t be long before the new height limits are put into action - an application for a 14-storey building on Nepean Highway was filed on Wednesday, 16 April. The Times understands that the Pace Development Group, which has proposed a high-rise building at the former Frankston Cinema site, has submitted new plans to council for consideration. Pace recently discontinued a Supreme
Court appeal against VCAT’s refusal of its original plans for 438-444 Nepean Highway. Last week a new application for the site was filed - developers hope to build a fourteen storey mixed-use development comprising residential, retail and commercial space. They have applied to reduce the number of car parking spaces for retail use, and to create or alter access to a road. The C160fran gazette reads that a new “Activity Centre Zone” has been introduced to “allow for differentiated land use and development objectives, including building height and setback controls for each of the six precincts designated
in the 2024 Structure Plan. Discretionary building heights in the ACZ1 are between 3 and 16 storeys.” Frankston mayor Kris Bolam, who was part of the previous council which worked on the project, said the planning minister’s approval of C160fran would result in “more locally-based planning decisions, greater clarity for investors, and a robust roadmap for our city’s growth and transformation in the years to come – advantages that other municipalities can only dream of right now.” “It means that our planning controls can now support the ongoing growth and transformation of our CBD and
surrounding area, while protecting the things we love about our city. Decisions about land use, the location of businesses and housing, how people move around, and our city’s look and feel can now be made with the confidence and certainty that our city has needed for more than a decade,” Bolam said. “Our journey has been extensive, with almost four years of rigorous and detailed strategic work that has included two stages of community engagement, public exhibition, as well as a review by an independent planning panel appointed by the Victorian Government. Continued page 3