With Melbourne experiencing an unprecedented boom in apartments, many of which are highrise located in the CBD:
Melbourne’s planning minister, Richard Wynne, has taken action to rein-in development, restricting new apartment buildings in the CBD to 24 floors. From The Age:
Planning Minister Richard Wynne brought in the new restrictions at midnight on Friday, with no notice to the development industry because of fears within government of an avalanche of applications for super-tall skyscrapers.
… a developer who builds to the borders of their block will now be restricted to 24 floors.
Alternatively the new laws could lead to an increase in open space, because those who apply to the minister to go higher will need to provide offsets such as open space…
The Property Council also said that some developers who had bought sites expecting to put in planning applications for 40 or more levels would now be left millions of dollars out of pocket…
Mr Wynne defended the new laws, saying many in the community wanted a check put on untrammelled development.
He said Melbourne risked losing its character unless each new CBD building added rather than detracted from its surrounds.
I have mixed feelings about this ruling.
On the one hand, there is a legitimate view that the plethora of new skyscrapers going up in Melbourne are ugly, too small, poorly designed and built, and overly expensive. Thus, if the new laws can somehow lead to better design and outcomes, all the better.
At the same time, the lunatics in charge are intent on running a high immigration program, with Melbourne forecast to grow to around 8 million people by mid-century.
These extra people will need somewhere to live. And with fringe areas largely off limits to expansion, thanks to Melbourne’s urban growth boundary, combined with new residential planning zones released last year that made it harder to subdivide suburban sites in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, the CBD is an obvious alternative.
There is also the issue that Melbourne’s economy has become highly reliant on dwelling construction to keep the economy ticking over, with a large share of the newly constructed apartments selling to foreigners:
Capping apartment heights will obviously curtail this trade, with negative impacts for the Victorian economy, at least in the short-term.
Like it or not, Melbourne has hitched its economy to the immigration-housing ponzi. And like a dog chasing its tail, it must continue building in order to grow.
Of course, the whole model will fall apart as soon as the music stops – i.e. immigration and dwelling construction falls. Richard Wynne might just have called time early.
