Lysterfield aged care home approved at VCAT

A three-storey aged care home is set to be built in a residential area of Lysterfield after Knox Council and neighbours lost a battle at VCAT. Homeowners fear the “eyesore” will ruin the area’s neighbourhood character.

Neighbours of the site have been against the home since it was first proposed in June 2018.

A “monster” three-storey aged care home is set to be built in a residential area of Lysterfield after VCAT ruled against Knox Council and neighbours’ protests.

The tribunal emphasised residential aged care facilities were not restricted by local planning schemes when it granted a permit for the 95-bed facility to be constructed at 34 Wellington St.

The aged care home will exceed the 7.5m height limit Knox Planning Scheme recommends for buildings in the bush area, which is protected by a significant landscape overlay, but “wide landscape zones” will create a buffer between it and its neighbours.

Homeowners living behind the site in Volks Court have been campaigning against plans for the home since they were filed a year ago.

The home will be built at 34 Wellington Rd, Lysterfield.

Neighbours joined the council in fighting Japara Development’s plans before the tribunal, saying the area’s character would be “inappropriately” changed by the building.

Darren St Leger, who represented nine other neighbouring households at the hearing, said they were extremely disappointed the “sheer size” was approved.

“It’s going to change the entire streetscape of Volks Court,” he said.

Mr St Leger said the home was going to be an “eyesore” in the site’s dominant position at the top of the street, between two single-storey homes.

“It’s just going to be a monster compared to my single-storey house.”

Neighbours of the site rallied together to oppose the planning application after it was first proposed in June 2018.

While members Michael Nelthorpe and Lorina Nervegna acknowledged the building would be a “considerable size”, they disagreed it would be “unreasonably imposing and intrusive”.

The council also argued the site’s location was unsuitable for an aged care home, being 2.5km from a shopping strip and not particularly close to public transport or services.

MORE: COVERT POST OFFICE OPERATION NABS DRUG IMPORTER

WHAT HAPPENED TO MITCHAM DAD 55 YEARS AGO?

CHILDCARE CENTRE IN CLEAR AFTER FIRING WORKER

But when handing down its ruling on June 12, the tribunal found state policy, the site’s size and the limited capacity of aged care residents outweighed the location’s “disadvantages”.

The court heard the Lysterfield catchment had an under supply of 369 residential aged care places and that the Commonwealth Department of Health had provisionally allocated 95 aged care places to Japara Development to be accommodated at the Wellington St facility.

The home will be built in two wings around an established tree of significance and an open courtyard.

It will have 39 carparking spaces and 21 bicycle spaces.

The approved plans are a reduced version of what the council rejected last year, with the developer having scaled back on its original plans for a four-storey, 103-bed home by the time the case reached the tribunal in March.