By Mikayla van Loon
The housing structure in Lilydale has been changing for quite some time but for one resident, he can’t see how the streets are going to sustain such developments unless something is done.
Local resident Paul Di Ludovico has lived in the area of McComb, Blair, Slevin and Kerr Streets all his life and has seen single houses be demolished for sometimes 10 houses or more.
“My real concern is the overdevelopment of these areas and the size of these sites,” he said.
“I can understand the reason for it because of the large blocks that we have here but I don’t see the need for the gun barrel designs that we’re giving this area. It’s the gateway to the Yarra Valley and we’re building these.”
Mr Di Ludovico said as much as he doesn’t like the overdevelopment of land he understands the housing needs and the residential growth zone classification given to this cohort of streets from being in the construction industry.
But his major concerns relate to the street congestion caused by a lack of parking on the blocks being developed and the out of character facades and roof lines.
“I know the area very, very well and it hurts [to see this]. I don’t care about the developments but give us character in the designs, not the repetitious, gun barrel, long development, they are giving us.”
Since 2012 Mr Di Ludovico has been talking with Yarra Ranges Council about improving the parking infrastructure in these streets but understands change will need to come from the planning scheme.
Director of Planning, Design and Development Kath McClusky said the council is working on a draft structure plan for Lilydale to be put out for consultation where these concerns will be addressed.
“It will consider the future locations for different types of housing throughout Lilydale. Once adopted by Council, the land use actions featured in the structure plan will be translated into a Planning Scheme Amendment,” she said.
“The Residential Growth Zone, which has been applied to this area since 2014 is our most intensive residential zone where we expect to see significant change and emerging neighbourhood character.”
McComb and Blair Streets have been recognised as level two access streets, meaning they are meant to be able to sustain two to three thousand cars.
“The only way that they will do a [traffic] report is if that target is actually met. That many cars don’t come down these streets,” Mr Di Ludovico said.
“So I say hang on a minute, let’s strip it right back to the bare bones. The reason why we’ve got these issues are these massive developments that actually don’t have car parking available on the premises.”
Houses built with two bedrooms only need to supply a one car garage, while three bedroom dwellings require a two car garage.
Ms McClusky said council officers don’t have the authority to require additional parking in a development as long as the plan meets Clause 52.06 of the planning scheme.
“The management of parking and traffic produced by the development is considered as part of the assessment of the application. Council does not have the power to require additional provision of car parking beyond what is set out in the planning scheme,” she said.
Solutions to the parking problem haven’t yet been provided by the council aside from offering residents parking permits, something Mr Di Ludovico said wouldn’t help the situation.
With wide nature strips, Mr Di Ludovico said he can’t see why parking cutouts or the widening of the roads is not possible.
“When you’ve got so many cars parked on the street, the only way you’re going to really rectify it is by turning them into one way streets,” Mr Di Ludovico said.
“Or on streets like this where you’ve got such large nature strips, utilise that, narrow the nature strips down and allow the cars to park in the street properly so that you can actually utilise the street the way it should be.”
