Moonee Ponds hotel application refused set for VCAT showdown

See why the plan for this Moonee Ponds hotel is set for VCAT after a ‘hard-fought’ battle.

The amended application for 4 Homer Street and 687 Mt Alexander Road was shown at City of Moonee Valley Council.

A protracted battle over a multi-story building near Moonee Ponds Central Shopping Centre is headed to VCAT as the saga took another twist.

An amended application to build a 15 storey mixed-use development at 4 Homer Street and 687 Mt Alexander Road in Moonee Ponds, which featured a ground floor restaurant, was presented to Moonee Valley Council this week.

Some of the features of the amended plans features 300 hotel rooms (down from 335), 121 car spaces (up from 94), bike spaces doubled and a reduced height.

Moonee Valley City Council supported a motion – moved by Cr Rose Iser – which reiterated the council’s refusal to the application’s amendments ahead of the VCAT hearing.

The proposal was referred to as “a complex, protracted and hard-fought application”. It has seen many changes from originally featuring residential dwellings to being hotel rooms and from having office and retail space to including a restaurant.

“This is a really complicated application and it is in a really prominent part of our city … most residents in Moonee Valley in travelling around our city would drive past it,” Cr Katrina Hodgson said.

“It’s really important that we take this one really seriously and make sure we’re building something that fits in with our design and vision for the city.

“When we have an application we assess what the net community benefit is … when it has housing availability, when it has office space in an activity zone, those are factors that may have led to granting a permit in the first place.

“Given that this amendment applies to try that … I think that we do have grounds to show our objection to VCAT.”

The application for 4 Homer Street and 687 Mt Alexander Road in Moonee Ponds is set for VCAT.

It has been a long road for the multi-story application. The council refused the previous application for permit on nine grounds two years ago, which was upheld at VCAT last year before the case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The Supreme Court upheld the applicant’s appeal which set the stage for the longstanding application to appear at VCAT later this month.

The passed motion featured eight grounds of refusal including having an adverse effect on neighbouring land, being an “unacceptable” design response to the area and not supporting “orderly and proper” planning principles.

“It will be interesting to see where it goes and how this proceeds, we will all learn a lot from this next stage in this long case,” Cr Iser said.

The VCAT hearing is scheduled for October 31, November 2 and November 4.