APARTMENT GLUT COULD DELAY BUNNINGS STORE
The current flood of apartments for sale in Doncaster could hold up the commencement of construction of the Doncaster Hill Bunnings store till well beyond 12 months if the obtaining of high rise apartment pre-sale quotas continue to be hampered by oversupply.
Because the land is prescribed a mixed use zone, with a high proportion of residential content, Bunnings are required to construct 385 apartments. The first of the three stages of development will include the Bunning Store plus 124 one and two bedroom apartments.
Bunnings Corner of Tower Street and Doncaster Road
Bunnings will not finalise a building permit until……
…….a satisfactory arrangement can be made with a co-developer to handle the pre-selling and construction of 124 apartments in a 25 metre high, six level building. Bunnings officers have confirmed they are currently negotiating with a number of apartment developers.
The proposal will not be their usual shed type of store but will have a similar facade to the Hawthorn store, the difference being, for the first time, Bunnings will be encumbered by the having to develop apartments.
Stage 1 will cover approx.60% of the land with frontage to Doncaster Road. Stage 2 will cover approx. 20% of the land with frontage to Tower Street and a small frontage to Doncaster Road. Stage 3 will cover approx. 20% of the land with frontage to Council Street and a small frontage to Doncaster Road.
Bunnings still have a number of issues to attend to including the amenity of first level apartments sitting below the level of the roof terrace immediately adjacent to the exterior side of Bunnings is poor. Access to natural light is extremely limited, particularly for east-facing apartments in the west apartment tower which are a whole level below the roof terrace
Traffic congestion will be a problem particularly during holiday periods, the SIDRA consultant’s analysis concedes that the queue for traffic turning right from Council Street to Doncaster Road will be 75m long during the predicted Saturday peak. The new and extended turning lanes in Council Street will have to be designed accordingly.
Doncaster primary school objected to the proposal on the basis of the apparent absence of attention to risk management, safety to the children and traffic management around the school (including access, parking and attendance to the school).
3 Comments
I cannot imagine how Doncaster Road will cope with the traffic congestion this Bunnings store on its own will create, let alone the additional traffic from 385 apartments.
Already in peak periods traffic entering Westfield from the east is banking up beyond Council Street and vehicles crossing Doncaster Road to access right turn entry lanes from southern side streets are blocking through traffic.
Council Street, the only entry to the primary school and residential areas to the north, will become a road block.
Manningham council should commission an independent traffic consultant before granting this development a building permit.
Why do we continue to elect councillors that are so easily seduced to the high density side. They pledge that they are opposed to inappropriate development and as soon as they are elected become advocates for high density. Maybe we are so dumb that we deserve to be betrayed.
The existing street layout was only designed to service low scale detached housing not for a major high density activity zone. There is no street grid surrounding Doncaster Hill, only a hap-hazard network of narrow residential streets, either looped or containing courts, which will offer no alternative exit or entry to the Bunning store other than Doncaster Road. Wide streets in a grid formation are essential to the enabling of efficient dispersion of traffic in any direction. Doncaster Hill was a very poor choice for major development.
Andrew