VCAT rejects high-rise plan

PLANS for a 14-storey building at the former Frankston cinema site have been rejected.

The proposal for 438-444 Nepean Highway in Frankston was considered by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Earlier this month, VCAT handed down its decision to refuse a planning permit for the project.

The “Pace” project started out as a 16-storey proposal. Earlier this year the plans were amended, and a revised 14-storey proposal was sent to VCAT for consideration. The final proposal featured 133 apartments.

The proposal has sparked community backlash – opponents to it said that it forms part of the “Great Wall of Frankston”, a series of high-rise proposals near Kananook Creek. Another of those projects, a multi-storey building at 446-450 Nepean Highway, was approved by VCAT this year (“High-rise building approved” The Times 23/4/2024).

In its reasoning, VCAT wrote that the height and form of the Pace building were areas of concern. “We have considered the decision guidelines concerning how the development is to respect the visual qualities of the foreshore and Kananook Creek and environs. The character of Kananook Creek and the trail is open and flanks the rear boundaries of residential properties. This is a sensitive outlook, and we find the proposal’s height, in conjunction with other built form considerations, to be inappropriate and not what is anticipated,” the VCAT order read.

“We also consider that a proposed height too closely replicating that of the Harbour development to the south, results in lack of variation inconsistent with the general design requirement for buildings to create an interesting and varied skyline. In our view, a lower height together with setbacks and breaks between and within built form would result in a better outcome.”

The plan was measured against the draft 2023 FMAC Structure Plan, and the interim 12-storey height limit currently placed over the site by planning minister Sonya Kilkenny.

First published in the Frankston Times – 23 July 2024