Residents and traders in the iconic Toorak Village say they fear the area will become soulless and “unlivable” if 16-storey housing towers allowed under new planning rules are built.
The rules for middle and inner Melbourne introduced by the Allan government have sparked fierce debate about appropriate building heights, with Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny arguing decisive action is needed to avoid future “childless” suburbs.
On Friday, 23 new tram and train zones had their height limits finalised, after months of local feedback.
Toorak Village was the only one to have its maximum height limit revised up following consultation, from 10 storeys or about 35m, up to 16 storeys or about 55m.
President of the Toorak Residents’ Association, Tony Fialides, said the area was pro-development but it had to be “sensible” and that there were major concerns about parking and local amenity with such a high limit.
Other residents and traders said they feared the area would become “unlivable” if mega towers sprang up, and that local voices had been “completely ignored”.
“It can’t turn into the Docklands with no soul,” one local, who did not want to be named, said.
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Lynette Stewart, who is part of the Toorak Village Residents Action Group, said residents didn’t want Gold Coast-like developments – while noting that those resort-style complexes didn’t go “boundary to boundary” like maps released for Toorak.
“You’re going to lose the ambience of the area, that makes it special, the feeling of the place,” she said.
“It’s going to become derelict with all the darkness and overshadowing.”
When announcing the new height limits across middle and inner Melbourne on Friday, shortly before the Socceroos’ final group stage match in the World Cup, Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny said part of the rationale was to provide greater choice and housing diversity.
“Unlocking some of those areas that have been locked up, so that we don’t see suburbs that could potentially be childless in the future,” Ms Kilkenny said.
“We know that that is in fact starting to happen, when we see the population of people under 65 actually declining in some of these inner and middle suburbs of Melbourne; it’s not acceptable and it’s not fair.”
But locals and traders said new apartments in the area were for sale for $5m and it was difficult to see how that was tackling affordability issues.
One said the 16-storey limit was almost double the height of the controversial St Germain building, added to the village area in 2023, that had strong local objections.
As the village’s residents and traders gathered on Saturday to discuss height limits, a well-dressed septuagenarian walked up to ask what was the subject of conversation, before providing her thoughts.
“F*** the government, that’s from a 77-year old,” she said.