_APARTMENT DEVELOPMENT IN CLAYTON

Collie recently provided planning services for a two-storey apartment building over a basement in Irwin Street Clayton.  Collie assisted in the preparation of a planning permit application and subsequently acted as advocate on behalf of the client at a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

Despite extensive discussions with Council, the planning permit application was refused at a Council meeting for reasons stated as overdevelopment, poor amenity and inappropriate building bulk and mass.

Collie subsequently submitted an application for review to VCAT and worked with the client and architect to prepare amended plans that were circulated to all parties in advance of the VCAT hearing.  Collie also prepared a landscape plan for the site to support the VCAT process.

Collie represented the applicant as an advocate at the VCAT hearing and outlined why the proposal was in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Monash Planning Scheme.  The VCAT member supported the application and directed that Council issue a planning permit.

The approved development consists of eight apartments, comprising six two bedroom dwellings and one single bedroom dwelling.  Car parking will be provided in a basement.

The site is located approximately 100 metres south of the Clayton campus of Monash University and is located in an area where student housing and other higher density forms of housing are beginning to replace older, detached dwellings.