APPROVAL for a 14-storey apartment building at the corner of Beach Street and Nepean Highway has been granted. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last week gave the green light to plans to build a high-rise building at 424/426 Nepean Highway. The 14-storey tower is proposed to stand roughly 45-metres tall, and features 105 apartments, a gym, a cinema, private dining facilities, a swimming pool, and outdoor areas and landscaping.
In 2018, a permit to build an 11-storey building with 63 dwellings and 46 serviced apartments was granted at the direction of VCAT. The developer did not act on the permit, which then expired in September 2023. New plans were submitted to VCAT this year after Frankston Council failed to consider them in time. Councillors later agreed that approval to build the tower would have been granted.
Frankston Council’s FMAC Structure Plan, which is awaiting final approval from the planning minister, outlines a preferred height limit of up to 41 metres in the precinct containing 424/426 Nepean Highway. VCAT’s decision read “the approved development is generally in accordance with the DDO14 [planning overlay] that currently applies to the site.” “We say ‘generally in accordance’ on the observations that the preferred height of the development is met, however there are variations to the preferred Kananook Creek Boulevard setbacks and upper podium setbacks,” VCAT wrote.
“Recent and current strategy and policy is actively seeking to facilitate development within this major activity centre. We observe that any change in planning controls will seek to facilitate development, rather than restrict development. “Great effort has been undertaken to ensure that the amended proposal before the Tribunal has obtained the approval of council and other relevant authorities.”
The developer has been given three years to commence development, and five years to complete it. Before construction begins, amended plans must be submitted to Frankston Council.
The 424/426 Nepean Highway proposal is the latest of multiple high-rise buildings which have been proposed along the Nepean Highway in Frankston this year.
Earlier this year VCAT rejected plans for a 14-storey apartment building at 438-444 Nepean Highway, and approved a multi-storey building at 446-450 Nepean Highway (“VCAT rejects high-rise plan” The Times 24/6/2024). The high-rise proposals have been opposed by the Stop The Great Wall of Frankston protest group. In a statement released last week, Stop The Great Wall of Frankston acknowledged the VCAT decision.
“Yesterday we received notification that the Tribunal has approved a permit for a 14 storey development on the corner of Beach Street and Nepean Highway. This site had an approved permit for 10 storeys dating back several years but the developer put in an application to extend the permit and amend the plans. Council failed to determine the application for the amended plans within the required timeframe and a hearing was held at VCAT in August 2024. Council along with others were parties to this hearing,” the group’s statement read. “There’s now two approved 14 storey developments along Kananook Creek Boulevard in a precinct with a ‘preferred height’ of 12 storeys.”
VCAT’s decision acknowledged community opposition to high-rise plans near Kananook Creek Boulevard. “This proceeding raises issues regarding the future impacts of significant built form changes along part of the Frankston bayside area. There is strong community sentiment against the proposal for a 14-storey mixed-use building with 105 dwellings close to Kananook Creek that will clearly be visible from the bayside shoreline and nearby residential properties,” VCAT wrote.
“Despite this sentiment, the scheme identifies the site within the FMAC. These areas are identified and promoted in the scheme for not only substantial change, but significant intensified development. However, there is tension between a substantial built form change and a sensitive location adjacent to the Kananook Creek and nearby Port Phillip Bay.”
First published in the Frankston Times – 19 November 2024