Nineteen-storey Box Hill tower wins planning approval in path of Suburban Rail Loop

Taxpayers look set to fork out for a multimillion-dollar land acquisition bill after a 19-storey hotel got the green light to be built in the path of the Suburban Rail Loop.

A multimillion-dollar land acquisition bill is looming in Melbourne’s east after a 19-storey hotel was given planning approval despite being in the path of the $34.5bn Suburban Rail Loop.

The state’s planning tribunal backed the hotel, worth tens of millions of dollars, to be built on Whitehorse Rd in Box Hill on land bought for $13m last decade.

A leading acquisitions lawyer said the approval would make it easier for developers to argue for higher compensation for their land if it was taken by the SRL.

Australian Poly Box Hill Investments won its VCAT battle with Whitehorse Council for a permit to build the hotel, which would also include commercial retail outlets.

The council made multiple arguments about why the project should be refused, including the implications for the Andrews government’s massive rail loop plan.

Suburban Rail Loop trains aren’t set to hit the tracks until 2035.

The Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) would run from Cheltenham to Box Hill under the first stage of the project, which is not yet through the planning process itself – which is why VCAT was unable to cater for its impacts.

Maps of the future Box Hill station, provided as parts of the Suburban Rail Loop’s Environmental Effects Statement (EES), showed the land would be directly in the crossfire of planned above-ground entrances.

But the developers argued VCAT did not have the power to refuse their hotel because of “the prospect that the land may be required for the SRL East in the future”.

VCAT granted the permit and said “the EES is not a seriously entertained planning proposal and it should not be given weight in our decision”.

It said the documents were based on extensive investigations but there was still a chance of significant changes between now and a final decision over construction.

Slater & Gordon associate and planning law expert Adrian McMillan said it was a “quirk of timing” that the approval came up shortly before the state planned to build a new station.

“It’s definitely better for (the developer’s) claims if the land is acquired,” he said.

Concept designs for Suburban Rail Loop’s Box Hill station. Picture: Supplied

“Because the hotel would be smack in the middle, I don’t think there’s any way to pick a boundary around it.”

Mr McMillan said businesses in the area should get their books in order and prepare for acquisitions, which were based on “highest and best use”.

A Suburban Rail Loop Authority spokeswoman confirmed that land valuation was done by assessing market value and “highest and best use” of a property and this was accounted for.

“Delivering a project of this scale in a built-up area like Box Hill is challenging, but we’re doing everything we can to minimise acquisition and ensure property owners and tenants are treated with respect and compensated fairly,” she said.

Box Hill resident Vernita Zigouras, who has lived in her home for almost half a century, said the process had been “dreadful” and information was kept from people living in the bulldozer zone.

“It’s so secretive, people don’t know what is happening,” she said.

“There’s still time for this to change.”

Although billions of dollars have already been committed to the project, decisions about construction sites and the impacts of the tunnel have not been finalised while the environmental effects process continues.

The SRL also faces uncertainty about its future if Labor does not win the 2022 state election, with the opposition yet to detail whether it would commit to building the potentially $120bn project.