By Parker McKenzie
The VIctorian Government’s lack of consultation and disregard of Knox City Council’s planning schemes has led the council to raise alarms over the development of 145 houses on a former school site in Boronia.
The development plans for the former Boronia Heights College site, also previously known as Boronia Technical School and Boronia Heights Secondary College, were approved by the Department of Transport and Planning and Knox City Council was notified on Tuesday 2 May.
Deputy Mayor Jude Dwight, whose Chandler Ward contained Boronia Heights College, said when the development plan was presented to the council last year, it was given a short period to make a response and there was no opportunity for public consultation.
“Knox City Council has a housing strategy in place that does try to encourage the density of housing appropriate to the infrastructure and services in the area around to support it,” she said.
“Our housing strategy would indicate probably about 25 dwellings across the site and a significant amount of open space, which potentially could have even included the oval that exists there because we are seeing a lot of pressure on sporting reserves across Knox.”
In 2014, the school merged with Boronia Primary School and was renamed Boronia K-12 College, located at Albert Avenue, before being demolished in 2015.
Matt Harris, a local resident in Boronia, said he would like to see the council work constructively with the state government.
“The way the council has described the development as dumping people, I think that language is really unnecessary,” he said.
“These can be homes for people. It’s a well-serviced area, up the road there is a GP clinic, there are pharmacies nearby and it is half an hour’s walk into the activity centre of Boronia. The council should use these opportunities to advocate for more for our community rather than trying to shut the gate.”
Knox City Council went as far as labelling it as a “secret plan for Boronia Heights,” because no public notice of the proposed development was carried out.
Mayor Marcia Timmers-Leitch said the council’s concerns include the intensity of the development, a lack of information about social and affordable housing, the protection of habitat zones and vegetation, bushfire risks and drainage needed to manage increased stormwater runoff.
“We desperately need more social and affordable housing and it’s important for the residents of these future developments that they are located near services and public transport and not just dumped on vacant government sites,” she said.
“What’s proposed is in stark contrast to the surrounding area, and there is a distinct lack of open space for a development that proposes to house so many people.”
The Department of Transport and Planning was contacted for comment.
