By Alesha Capone
A Wyndham councillor has expressed disappointment at a VCAT decision to approve the construction of 26 double-storey townhouses in a Tarneit street.
Cr Josh Gilligan said he was “incredibly disappointed” in VCAT’s recent decision to approve a planning application for the townhouses to be built at 3 Onyx Way.
The VCAT decision comes after the council knocked back the planning application in December last year, after receiving 67 objections to the proposal.
In a separate decision, also made last year, the council approved a plan to build 13 double-storey units at 1 Onyx Way.
Cr Gilligan said VCAT’s recent decision on 3 Onyx Way meant that a total of 39 dwellings would be built across the two neighbouring blocks of land.
He described the 26 townhouses planned for 3 Onyx Way as “an overdevelopment”.
The two sites are located within a part of Tarneit where high-density housing is encouraged, under a development plan approved in 2004, titled the ‘Ridgeland Development Plan’.
Cr Gilligan said that Wyndham council had written to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) seeking advice on planned changes to the municipality’s planning scheme, with the aim of giving residents greater transparency and notification rights on developments.
“This includes gaining increased planning controls in the Wyndham Planning Scheme, including the power to revoke development overlay plans like the Ridgeland Development Plan, or introduce sunset clause for a development plan overlay,” he said.
