Neighbours fear Kingston Council plans to allow higher density developments will ‘destroy the city’

Angry homeowners fear Kingston Council’s plan to allow higher-density developments, including three-storey housing in residential streets, will forever destroy their area — and they’re worried about one suburb in particular.

Kingston Council has proposed to allow higher density developments and these residents aren’t happy. Picture: Josie Hayden

Furious neighbours say a Kingston Council plan to allow higher-density developments in residential streets will “destroy the city”.

The council’s draft housing strategy — which includes a neighbourhood character study and a 20-year plan to manage housing growth — states “modest change will be experienced through housing diversity at slightly greater densities”.

The council’s proposed changes include allowing three-storey housing in “incremental change” areas, including parts of Dingley Village and along the Frankston railway line, that have existing two-storey (9m) restrictions.

Dingley Village Community Association spokesman Kevin Poulter said the proposal was ludicrous and would “destroy the city and neighbhourhood character” forever.

“Council’s highly intrusive rezoning proposals for all of Kingston are claimed to have met the State Government requirements for higher density, but we say (the) council has exceeded the density and residents are appalled at what they see,” Mr Poulter said.

“Dingley Village is Victoria’s only village and infrastructure is at its limits and thousands of residents chose to live there because of its village character.”

Mentone’s Chris Hill said the council’s proposed changes would affect thousands of houses, particularly those zoned under General Residential Zone 3 (GRZ3) — which have a general 9m height limit — that the council had now earmarked for “incremental change”.

“It seems that Bayside Council have been successful protecting most of their streets from more intensive development, however it will be a very different story in Kingston if the changes come into force,” Mr Hill said.

Neighbours fear the council’s plans will forever destroy neighbourhood character.

He said the changes, if they came into effect, would open the door for developers to further push the boundaries on what was considered “appropriate development”.

“Existing homeowners will have little power to protect the liveability of their properties or seek fair compensation from developers if the liveability of their home is compromised,” he said.

Cr Rosemary West said the changes could impact about 75 per cent of residents.

Cr West said the council had added more than 2000 dwellings per year since 2006, which its demographic consultants Currie and Brown found was sufficient.

MORE:

BEACH RD TREE PLANTING PLAN ANGER

SHOW US YOUR PAW-SOME FOOTY FAN DOG PHOTOS

MOST WANTED IN THE WEST: HAVE YOU SEEN THESE PEOPLE?

“(The) council already is accommodating enough growth to meet our targets,” Cr West said.

Kingston Council planning and development general manager Jonathan Guttmann said the State Government estimated the population of Melbourne would grow to 7.9 million people by 2051, and was calling on councils to accommodate growth.

“To meet this demand, Kingston Council is planning to accommodate our share of population growth generally around key activity centres, close to public transport, shops and services.”

Mr Guttmann said the council had notified every Kingston household about the plans, including community drop-in sessions.

“We have also recently sent an information bulletin to around 70,000 households informing them of the project and invited them to have their say.”

The council’s housing strategy is open for community consultation until Friday, August 2.

Details: yourkingstonyoursay.com.au

[e-mail]