A SITE on one of the busiest intersections in Bundoora is likely to be the location of a six-storey apartment development, sparking local anger.
The development will dwarf the adjoining St Damian’s Primary School and will push more traffic onto the Plenty and Settlement roads intersection.
But the Whittlesea council has backed the multi-million-dollar proposal after its officers advised it was an appropriate development for a site currently used as a car wash.
A group of residents opposed to the building, which will contain 63 apartments, attended last week’s council meeting and applauded the councillors who spoke against it.
“There is non-stop traffic – it is the right building but in the wrong location,” councillor Rex Griffin said.
“It is peak hour at all times at that intersection.”
Councillor Mary Lalios said it was an overdevelopment and, despite council officers’ assurances, said that at six storeys it would overshadow its neighbours.
Councillor Norm Kelly said the intersection was already a “catastrophe”, with regular accidents.
But VicRoads consented to the development, Councillor John Fry said.
The council’s planning and major projects director Steve O’Brien stated in a report that it was an appropriate development.
The applicants, Cornetta Partners Architects, took the case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in May after the council failed to make a decision in the prescribed time. The council voted to support the applicant at the VCAT.
