Box Hill South: Canaan Holdings’ plans for old St Leo’s College site
A developer is having another go at transforming an old school site in Box Hill South after its initial plan for hundreds of houses and a retirement village was slammed. SEE THE PLANS.
East
Don't miss out on the headlines from East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Plans for an $8.1 million housing development at the site of an old Box Hill South school have been revealed, years after the developer’s initial proposal for hundreds of houses and a retirement village were rejected.
Canaan Holdings Pty Ltd has lodged an application to build 23 three-storey townhouses at 15-31 Hay St as stage one of its plans for the almost 5ha site.
The developer is proposing to build the 11.5m houses in four clusters along the western side of the site, offering a range of three-bedroom and four-bedroom homes, each with three bathrooms.
The houses would go up in place of several brick buildings on the site, which were used by St Leo’s Catholic College until the 1990s, followed by a private international school and community groups.
The application does not include plans to develop the open space which makes up the majority of the site.
The proposal for the $8.1 million development is smaller than the developer’s initial plans, mooted in 2015, but objectors are still not happy.
Neighbour Tracey Suidgeest said the plans showed “complete disregard for the existing community”, with the proposed height and density of the houses out-of-line with the area.
She said the many new residents accessing the development from Hay St would make traffic even more chaotic, with the road already a nightmare because of the number of nearby high-density developments.
Ms Suidgeest said cars were banned from turning right in and out of Hay St at its intersection with Canterbury Rd, but drivers regularly made the illegal turn.
“I have a near-miss on Hay St on a weekly basis,” she said.
The street is often reduced to a single-carriage way, with parked cars lining both sides of the street.
And Ms Suidgeest said the situation would only get worse, with two carparking spaces planned for each of the new houses.
She’s also concerned the application seeks to remove 14 trees from the site, which are protected under a council overlay.
A representative from Orb Property Partners, who declined to be named, said the developer was consulting with the community, with an on-site meeting with residents planned for November 7.
The representative said the site had been allowed to fall into disrepair due to the inability of redevelopment to take place and the developer would work with the council and the community to ensure any development contributed positively to the amenity and safety of the neighbourhood.
Neighbours celebrated when Whitehorse Council backflipped on its decision to approve the earlier proposal for 310 houses, including a retirement village and seven-storey buildings in March 2015, just a month after it agreed to grant the permit.
Taken to VCAT, the plans were then put before Planning Minister Richard Wynne, who refused to approve the “overdevelopment”, but did rezone the site to facilitate future residential development.
MORE: MASSIVE 36-STOREY TOWER TO REIGN OVER BOX HILL
HOW DELIVEROO HELPED REVIVE A BOX HILL FOODIE FAVOURITE
WHAT LIFE WILL BE LIKE IN MELB’S TALLEST SUBURBAN TOWER
Canaan Holdings is seeking to offer a new level of high quality housing with the development, with each house to feature courtyards and balconies in all houses, and some to also include internal courtyards and rooftop terraces.
Several of the houses have been designed to cater for multi-generational living, with the fourth bedroom located in a studio attached to the main house with its own bathroom and living area.