Council decides on Humffray Street high-rise project

The planning permit was approved, with conditions that included the removal of all car parking for the apartment building and a reduction in car parks for the office spaces.

Councillor Daniel Moloney added a condition which would stop owners or occupiers from applying for a residential parking permit.

He said this is a similar addition to what was done when the Nightingale Apartments were approved for Davey Street in 2019, and hoped this would stop future residents from parking in surrounding streets.

"This city has a big question to answer, that question is how are we going to grow?" Cr Moloney said.

"Not growing at all is not an option."

Cr Moloney said past decisions to knock back infill projects of this size have limited housing options and pushed more residents into the suburban growth zones.

He said the council had work ahead of them to find locations where multi-storey houses can be built, closer to Ballarat Central, to help create more housing stock.

"We are going to struggle with that conversation," he said.

"You can almost list them on one hand the number of genuine, decent infill developments we've had."

The removal of car parking spaces for the 74 apartments in the proposal was justified by the council officer because of the public transport links in the area and the extra bike parking spaces offered.

Five councillors said the public transport system in the city at the moment is not where it needs to be.

The bus network in particular was a big priority for the council ahead of the state budget process in 2023.

"Our public transport offering is quite poor," Cr Amy Johnson said.

"We have some fantastic bus drivers within the City of Ballarat, but unfortunately, the routes that they drive often make it really difficult to get from one side of the city to the other easily."

Cr Moloney said improvements to public transport systems would come if they could demonstrate a need from the community, especially if there were more people living in the central business district without a car.

"Times are changing ... how do we start focusing a lot more on building in and creating an actual genuine need for public transport," he said.

When this project was first announced, there were 56 objections.

Nine people spoke against the proposal during the meeting on Wednesday April 10.

Their concerns focused on the size of the building and the impact on important historical sightlines such as the view towards Town Hall.

Development and growth director Natalie Robertson said the council was not able to reject the application because of the sightlines.

Councillor Samantha McIntosh voted against the application because of the size and said "sometimes there needs to be some compromise".

Cr Johnson also voted against, because of the lack of parking for residents and limited options for public transport.

Cr Mark Harris and Cr Tracey Hargreaves were apologies.