Frankston
GET YOUR
FREE TV GUIDE INSIDE!
An independent voice for the community
Your weekly community newspaper covering Frankston, Frankston South, Karingal, Langwarrin and Seaford
DOWNLOAD 3MP FROM THE APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY
FREE
Tuesday 11 July 2023
For all advertising and editorial needs, call 03 5974 9000 or email: team@baysidenews.com.au www.baysidenews.com.au
Creek contention
Plans to develop high-rise apartments along Nepean Highway by Kananook Creek Boulevard are up in the air. Picture: Supplied
Frankston high-rise plans hit a wall Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au PLANS for high-rise developments along Nepean Highway in Frankston have hit a major snag after a sudden decision by the state government’s planning minister. Plans to build multi-storey apartments in the area bordered by Nepean Highway, Beach Street, Wells Street, and Kananook Creek Boulevard have been protested throughout the year. Proposals for a 16-storey building at 438-444 Nepean Highway and a 14-storey building
at 446-450 Nepean Highway are currently before VCAT for consideration. Planning minister Sonya Kilkenny intervened in the matter last week - she approved interim planning controls which will limit development within the Nepean Highway, Beach Street, Wells Street, and Kananook Creek Boulevard precinct to just three storeys. Proposed planning controls recently included in Frankston Council’s FMAC structure plan and sent to the planning minister for approval outline preferred building heights of up to 12 storeys in that area. In her published justification for the intervention, Kilkenny said “without
this amendment being exempted from the usual process, development may be permitted which is highly likely to compromise the orderly planning of this part of Frankston in circumstances where authorisation of amendment C160fran [the FMAC structure plan] has been sought.” “Approval of development that is inconsistent with proposed built form controls before this statutory process occurs would be highly likely to jeopardise the aims of proposed amendment C160fran before it can be considered,” she wrote. The interim planning controls are active until 27 October.
Opposers to the proposed Nepean Highway development plans have labelled them the “Great Wall of Frankston”. A petition protesting their construction has garnered nearly 5000 signatures. One of the petition’s supporters, Kananook Creek Association spokesman Rob Thurley, said that he was “delighted to hear of the minister’s intervention”. “We are very concerned about the FMAC structure plan going on with the nonsense of preferred heights. The minister has intervened to set mandatory heights so it’s clearly not correct,” Thurley said. “The majority of the
community are very concerned about a great wall on the waterfront. The council never had a mandate to build this obscene structure.” The planning changes announced last Wednesday, 5 July, came as a surprise to many. The gazetted change was announced in the middle of a VCAT hearing considering a high-rise proposal within the affected precinct. The interim changes were not publicly exhibited before they were approved. Specific questions about the process sent to Kilkenny by The Times were not directly answered by the planning minister. Continued page 4