_HARCREST

Before the sale of the former brickworks site, Austral Bricks in conjunction with the Knox City Council [Council] prepared and exhibited a planning scheme amendment specifying that:

• the majority of the site be Residential 1 Zone;
• an area be set aside for Mixed-Use Zone, intended for use as a local shopping centre;
• an environment audit overlay be applied to the site;
• a development plan overlay be applied to the site;
• an ‘urban planning guidelines’ document to guide future development be incorporated in the planning scheme.

Austral Bricks and Council undertook community consultation associated with the planning scheme amendment, including presentation of the ‘urban planning guidelines’. Mirvac was chosen as the preferred purchaser of the site.

Collie was appointed by Mirvac to provide specialist town planning advice as to how best to negotiate the town planning system and how to have the planning scheme amendment appropriately restructured to suit the preferred Mirvac development model. Collie recommended changes to the initial amendment, in particular the status and content of the ‘urban planning guidelines’ and content of the schedule to the development plan overlay, which were subsequently undertaken in advance of approval. Collie then assisted Mirvac in obtaining various planning permits for development and preparation of an additional planning scheme amendment to relocate the mixed-use zone to a preferred site and to increase the amount of floor space in the local shopping centre.