Council undertook the Whitehorse Housing Strategy, 2014 to support the implementation of the new residential zones introduced by the State Government. As part of implementing the zones through Amendment C160, Council sought mandatory height limits in Schedule 1 (3 storeys / 11 metres) and Schedule 2 (4 storeys / 13.5 metres) of the Residental Growth Zone (RGZ). These height limits were removed when Amendment C160 was approved by the Minister for Planning in October 2014.
Since the introduction of the new residential zones through Amendment C160, concern has been raised about the development outcomes in areas zoned RGZ along the above key road corridors, particularly where the RGZ interfaces with more traditional residential development in the Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ), and to a lesser extent the General Residential Zone (GRZ). This includes concern about the height of new buildings and amenity impacts including overlooking and overshadowing of adjoining buildings. Concerns have also been raised about inadequate setbacks to the street and neighbouring properties and consequentially, the limited space for landscaping and vegetation.
Overall, it is considered that the provisions of the RGZ are providing inadequate guidance for built form, zone transition, building height and landscaping in these areas. This prompted Council to undertake the Study to identify suitable planning mechanisms to address these issues.
The Study addresses land in the RGZ along Whitehorse Road and Burwood Highway. One of the main recommendations of the Study was to apply built form controls to the portions of these corridors that are generally outside of activity centres through a new Schedule to the Design and Development Overlay (DDO) in the Whitehorse Planning Scheme. Accordingly, the proposed DDO11 introduces built form controls and provides certainty for residents, property owners, developers and adjoining properties interfacing with these growth corridors.
By introducing DDO11, permit applications will be assessed under different planning provisions as listed below, including requirements to ensure amenity of adjoining properties, including building setbacks, overlooking and overshadowing requirements.
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Development scenario
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Planning controls to apply
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3 storeys and under
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- ResCode (Clause 55 of the Planning Scheme)
- DDO11 does not apply
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4 storeys
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- ResCode (Clause 55 of the Planning Scheme)
- Landscaping, overshadowing and pedestrian interface elements of DDO11 apply
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5 and 6 storeys
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- Apartment Guidelines (Clause 58 of the Planning Scheme). Clause 58 includes setback and amenity requirements to limit views into the private open space and habitable room windows of dwellings within a development.
- All of the requirements of DDO11 apply
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