Interim Central Melbourne Planning Controls: The Detail

Source: https://urban.melbourne

The Victorian Government gazetted new interim planning controls for the CBD and parts of Southbank, chief among them is the re-introduction of site plot ratios. A media release states the City of Melbourne has been made a referral authority, after the council signed a memorandum of understanding with the Victorian Government.

The Central City Study Area. Source: https://urban.melbourne

All development applications arriving on the Planning Minister’s desk before Friday will be assessed under the regime existing prior to the interim controls coming into effect. This means all projects shown in this video distributed by the Victorian Government will not be subject to newly gazetted interim controls.

Setbacks And Plot Ratios

The Government Gazette (link is external) states that the City of Melbourne Planning Scheme has been amended with the following:

• A new Schedule 10 to Clause 43.02 has been inserted to the Design and Development Overlay.
  • Buildings up to or equal to 100 metres in height will require a tower setback of minimum five metres to all boundaries or from the centre of a laneway above the podium.
  • Buildings above 100 metres in height will require tower setbacks to be the equivalent of five per cent of the building’s overall height, and likewise these tower setbacks will be required to all boundaries or from the centre of a laneway above the podium height.
  • A plot ratio requirement of 24:1 has been added.

A plot ratio – or FAR (Floor area ratio) (link is external) – is a tool which relates to Gross Floor Area and prescribes the maximum density allowable for a development site. By way of an example, alongside other new controls as outlined in the link section below, a 1,000 square metre site in Melbourne’s CBD will now only be permitted to have up to 24,000 square metres of Gross Floor Area.

The following image was distributed by the Victorian Government on Saturday showing the pre-interim control conditions in central Melbourne. No matter which way you look at it, the new plot ratio requirements appear to be very generous when compared to other cities which use them.

Source: https://urban.melbourne

Melbourne’s central area now has an interim plot ratio of 24:1

• A schedule to Clause 66.04 (link is external) has been amended to add the City of Melbourne as a recommending referral authority.
• Clause 7 in Schedule 1 to the Capital City Zone (link is external) deals with the prohibition of “overshadowing the northern bank of the Yarra, 15 metres from its edge and any open space at Federation Square, City Square, and the State Library Forecourt between 11am and 2pm from 22nd of March to 22nd September”.
  • Clause 7 likewise introduces a wind analysis requirement.
• Clause 3 in Schedule 2 to the Capital City Zone (link is external) prohibits the construction of “footbridges, pedestrian ways, vehicle bridges and links across the above ground level of Bourke Street, Collins Street, Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street”.
  • Clause 3 likewise states that “a permit is required to construct a building or construct or carry out works which would cast a shadow between 11am and 2pm on 22nd March and 22 September over public space, public parks and gardens, public squares, major pedestrian routes including streets and lanes, and privately owned plazas open to the public. A permit may only be granted if the responsible authority considers the overshadowing will not prejudice the amenity of those areas”.
• Clause 6 in Schedule 3 to the Capital City Zone (link is external) prohibits “the construction of buildings and works which would cast any additional shadow across the Shrine of Remembrance and its northern forecourt between 11am and 4pm on 22nd September”.

Discretionary Height Limits Become Mandatory

Schedules 2, 7, 40, 60 and 62 to the Design and Development Overlay deal with previous discretionary height controls now being mandatory.

• Clause 2 in Schedule 2 to the Design and Development Overlay (link is external) outlines the maximum building heights in prescribed areas such as Chinatown, around St. Paul’s Cathedral, Town Hall and Parliament.

   

  • The maximum permissible heights vary between 15 metres in the Hardware Lane area up to 80 metres for areas along Bourke Street.
• Clause 2 in Schedule 7 to the Design and Development Overlay (link is external) outlines the maximum building heights in the Northbank Promenade and Batman Park area.
• Clause 2 in Schedule 40 to the Design and Development Overlay (link is external) outlines the maximum building heights in the River Environs.
  • The design objectives for this schedule relate to “maintaining the existing low-scale river edge urban form along the river corridor” and the maximum height has been set at six storeys.
• Clause 2 in Schedule 60 to the Design and Development Overlay (link is external) relates to height limits in various areas of Southbank.
  • The applicable areas in the CBD & Southbank context are around the Arts Centre, Sturt Street, Wells Street and Dorcas Street.
• Clause 2 in Schedule 62 to the Design and Development Overlay (link is external) is dedicated to Bourke Hill and the heights for that precinct.

Ordinance 22.01 (Urban design within the Capital City Zone) (link is external) is probably where all architects will want to head to straight away and rounding out the mass-linkage of all the amended documents is Ordinance 22.02 (Sunlight to public spaces) (link is external).

A Year Of Consultation and Review

Key topic areas which will be a focus in the upcoming central city planning review Image Source: https://urban.melbourne

2016 is set to be an even busier year in the planning world for Central Melbourne. Fishermans Bend’s review and now the CBD and Southbank’s own planning review are set to be completed and published. Likewise, according to details embedded in a referral posted on the Federal Government’s Department of Environment website (link is external), Melbourne Metro will have its planning and environmental assessment complete.

Based on reports in other media and the Victorian Government-supplied image above, we should expect to hear a lot about equitable development opportunities and density bonuses in the coming review period.