The City of Ballarat could see high-density housing developments built on smaller blocks than ever before, with proposed changes to the government's Small Lot Housing Code planning guidelines.
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The changes, dubbed the 'Small Lot Housing Code 2 (SLHC2) project', are being examined by the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA), and would allow the 'delivery of dwellings on lots between 60 and 150sqm' - significantly smaller areas than most current housing developments. The new changes, the VPA says, are in response to developer and industry interest expressed during a 2019 review of the code.
Sixty square metres - six metres by ten metres - is roughly the size of one-quarter of a tennis court. The plan proposes a number of dwellings could be allowed in that space.
The Small Housing Lot Code was originally introduced in 2012 to overcome limitations on the development of housing blocks less than 300sqm, as the Baillieu government's planning minister Matthew Guy strove to increase housing density. Until that point, any development on a block less than that size required a planning permit, to ensure adequate living space was mandated.
This meant density housing, such as blocks of flats, could be developed on larger sites with attached open spaces, but were prevented from filling small sites, where overcrowding and lack of sunlight and hygiene were perceived legacy problems of small-site developments of the previous century.
Whole inner-city suburbs were cleared of what had become slums in the eyes of many during the Depression, giving way to high-rise housing developments with their own problems.
The code applies to developments in Melbourne's growth zone and in the City of Greater Geelong, Shire of Baw Baw, Shire of Cardinia, the City of Knox - and the City of Ballarat.
Currently dwellings built under the code are known as 'Type A' or 'Type B', according to the amount of space they occupy on the site (A is 90 per cent of a site, B 100 per cent), and to council designations. The houses are exempt from many of the state's Building Regulations 2018 such as setbacks, access to light, and overshadowing. The houses must have a minimum of 24sqm private, open space.
The VPA's proposed 'Type C' dwellings will be rows of three-storey dwellings, with either two or three bedrooms, built in rows of no more than 10 houses or 60-metre lengths. To prevent the blocks from completely overwhelming street frontages, one dwelling must be reduced in height.
To give a comparison of the block size, the goal square at Mars Stadium is 60sqm, as is one-quarter of a tennis court. The town hall's tower takes up 75sqm. It takes four to five average Ballarat carparks to make up 60sqm. The gatekeeper's cottage and garden at the Botanic Gardens is twice the allowed size at 120sqm, an average Lake Wendouree boatshed is 35sqm.
That is not to say encouraging small allotment development is completely unwelcome, says urban geographer and specialist in urban planning Dr Kate Shaw.
"If the effect is to reduce block sizes and increase housing densities on the urban periphery (after 20 years of this as completely unrealised policy objective), it's not all a bad thing," Dr Shaw says.
"Obviously the application has to be nuanced and it depends on context. But if it's well-designed then it's not necessarily a bad thing."
The current version of the Small Lot Housing Code was introduced by the City of Ballarat as an attachment to its Ballarat West Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) in 2016.
RMIT Emeritus Professor Michael Buxton agrees the philosophy of the changes to the code, but the devil - and it's a sizeable devil - will be in the detail. He says councils such as Ballarat have had their influence and control over developments such as these limited by exclusion from planning processes.
"It might seem the code encourages housing diversity, but only a small proportion of dwellings are being constructed on lots under 250sqm as lazy developers continue with their standard business model of providing detached housing on various-sized lots," Professor Buxton says.
"Another issue is that there should be a gradation of housing types and sizes in planned locations, with higher density attached housing models (such as townhouses) being located in and close to activity centres and public transport locations.
"The design of shopping centres also prevents this by separating them from housing through the building of big-box centres and malls surrounded by car parks and wide roads. Instead, some developers are increasing their average lot densities in growth areas by placing attached row housing well away from activity centres without any public transport connections, requiring even more car use.
"The code is also seriously deficient, with many vague standards able to be interpreted different ways, omitting essential requirements such as housing orientation and sunlight access. This makes it impossible to hold developers properly to account, a major deficiency of code assessment which places effective power with developers.
"Growth areas around regional centres are particularly affected by this lack of council control as higher density housing, sometimes located 5km to 8km from regional CBDs, is poorly serviced and unconnected to any other activities and jobs except by road vehicles.
"Ultimately, the code places even more power with the development industry to do as it likes with no regard for the consequences on people's lives. It is typical of a government obsessed with deregulating every possible decision to powerful interest groups. Ultimately, people pay."
TOMORROW: The Victorian Planning Authority has offered a detailed response on the new code typology, saying the project's aim is to provide housing type diversity for all growth areas in Victoria, the update is still at development stage and is out for community consultation.
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