REASONS FOR DECISION TO EXERCISE POWER OF INTERVENTION
UNDER SECTION 20(4) OF THE PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT ACT 1987
Yarra PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C240
The Planning and Environment Act 1987 (the Act), the Heritage Act 1995 and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 provide for the intervention of the Minister for Planning in planning and heritage processes.
In exercising my powers of intervention, I have agreed to:
§ Make publicly available written reasons for each decision; and
§ Provide a report to Parliament at least every twelve months detailing the nature of each intervention.
REQUEST FOR INTERVENTION
1. The Department of Education and Training (DET) has requested this intervention to enable the timely sale of the property to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
WHAT POWER OF INTERVENTION IS BEING USED?
2. I have decided to exercise my powers to exempt myself from all the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the regulations in respect to Amendment C240 to the Yarra Planning Scheme (Scheme).
3. Section 20(4) of the Act enables the Minister for Planning (Minister) to exempt an amendment which the Minister prepares from any of the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act or the regulations.
4. In seeking to exercise this power, section 20(4) of the Act requires that the Minister must consider that compliance with any of those requirements is not warranted or that the interests of Victoria or any part of Victoria make such an exemption appropriate.
BACKGROUND
5. The Amendment applies to two parcels of land;
a. 510 Swan Street, Richmond (Site) owned by DET and
b. the parcel of land to the south of the Site owned by VicTrack.
6. The Site, known as Ryan’s Reserve, is approximately 5500 square metres and is mostly flat and occupied by netball courts and a single storey building containing facilities. The facility is on a short term lease to the Yarra City Council (Council) and used by the Richmond Netball Association. The State Government has made a commitment to provide alternative facilities available elsewhere and to support the relocation of the current users of Ryan’s Reserve. The Site is located in a well‐established mixed use area consisting of residential, business, industrial land uses and excellent transport access.
7. The parcel of land to the south of the Site is owned by VicTrack. The land owned by VicTrack is leased to Metro Trains Melbourne, contains a large substation and is required to be held for transport purposes.
8. I established the Government Land Standing Advisory Committee (GLSAC) to provide me with independent advice for proposals to change the planning provisions for land owned by the government.
9. At the request of the DET, on 28 July 2016, I referred the planning provisions proposed by the DET for the Site to the GLSAC for consideration.
10. The DET requested that the Site be rezoned to Commercial 1 Zone (C1Z), that Schedule 13 to the Development Plan Overlay (DPO13) be applied to the Site–and that the two existing overlays (Schedules 2 and 5 to the Design and Development Overlay (DDO2) (DDO5)) be retained.
11. The GLSAC process included community consultation on the proposed new planning provisions for the Site, as summarized below:
a. A six week exhibition period which commenced on 22 August 2016 and concluded on 30 September 2016, a notice in the local paper and letters sent to surrounding owners and occupiers, prescribed Ministers, Council and local interest groups. A public information session was held on 6 September 2016 at Planning Panels Victoria (PPV).
b. 89 submissions were received by PPV. The issues raised in submissions related to:
- lack of strategic planning support for the rezoning;
- loss of a scarce active recreation facility in an area undergoing significant transformation and population increase;
- inclusion of social housing on the Site; and
- impact on the Precinct of development on the Site.
c. TheGLSAC held public hearings for those submitters who wished to make a verbal presentation on 24, 25 and 27 October 2016.
12. As part of the consultation process carried out by the GLSAC, VicTrack wrote to the GLSAC advising that it owned the adjoining land to the south of the Site. The VicTrack land is within a Public Park and Recreation Zone. VicTrack requested in its submission to the GLSAC that its site be rezoned to Public Use Zone 4 Transport to better reflect the ownership, and historic and current use of the site.
13. On 29 November 2016, the GLSAC provided me with its report which outlined its recommendations. The GLSAC recommended:
a. that the Site be rezoned from C1Z, that DPO13 (as revised by the GLSAC) be applied to the Site and that the existing DDO2 and DDO5 be retained.
b. That the southern adjacent parcel of land owned by VicTrack (also zoned PPRZ) be rezoned to Public Use Zone (Schedule 4 - Transport) (PUZ4).
14. The Amendment generally implements the recommendations of the GLSAC, with the exception of one of the requirements recommended in the DPO13, namely, that building heights should not exceed 6 storeys unless a specific benefit is provided.
15. The Amendment rezones the Site from PPRZ to C1Z and applies DPO13. DET supports these changes.
16. The application of the C1Z to the Site will allow for a variety of uses that will complement the emerging character of the precinct as shown in the Council’s Draft Swan Street Structure Plan.
17. DPO13 provides appropriate control and guidance to direct the future use and development of the site, including appropriate built form outcome, amenity of the surrounding properties including overshadowing, as well as noise attenuation, waste management, and traffic management.
18. The Amendment also rezones the land to the south of the Site, owned by VicTrack, from PPRZ to PUZ4 (Transport).
19. The application of the PUZ4 to the land to the south of the Site will better reflect the use and operation of this land.
Benefits of exemption
20. The main benefit of the exemption is that it will enable a prompt decision to be made on the adoption and approval of the Amendment, in circumstances where targeted consultation has been undertaken with potentially affected parties and their views have been considered in the preparation of the Amendment documentation.
21. The Council has been consulted on the Amendment and it is unlikely that further consultation would result in a different outcome.
Effects of Exemption on Third Parties
22. The effect of the exemption is that third parties will not receive statutory notice of the Amendment and will not have the opportunity to make a submission or be heard by an independent Panel in relation to the Amendment.
23. The Council, residents, and government agencies who may be affected by the Amendment were provided with informal notice of the Amendment and given the opportunity to comment on it during the hearing process carried out by the GLSAC.
24. The Council’s views on the proposed amendment are known and, where appropriate, changes were made to the amendment documentation in response to feedback received from Council.
25. A formal exhibition process for the Amendment is not likely to identify any new issues which were not considered as part of the abovementioned GLSAC process.
Assessment as to whether benefits of exemptions outweigh effects on third parties
26. The exemption of the Amendment from the usual notice requirements under the Act is warranted in circumstances where targeted consultation has been undertaken with potentially affected parties, their views are well understood, and have been considered during the preparation of the Amendment. Further consultation would be unlikely to identify any new issues, nor result in changes to the Amendment.
27. Having regard to the consultation process, and that further consultation would be unlikely to alter the outcome, I consider that compliance with sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the regulations is not warranted.
DECISION
28. I have decided to exercise my power to exempt myself from all the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the regulations in respect of Amendment C240 to the Yarra Planning Scheme.
REASONS FOR INTERVENTION
29. I provide the following reasons for my decision to exercise my power under section 20(4) of the Act.
30. I am satisfied that -
Compliance with any of the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the regulations is not warranted because:
· notice of the Amendment was provided to potentially affected parties, who had the opportunity to make submissions through the GLSAC process. These submissions were considered in the preparation of the Amendment; and
· formal notice of the Amendment and a potential Panel process would be unlikely to alter the outcome.
SIGNED BY THE MINISTER
HON RICHARD WYNNE MP
Minister for Planning
Date: 13 April 2017