Reformed planning zones: City of Moreland
The City of Moreland has been busy drafting new zones made possible by the Planning Minister's state-wide planning zone reform and has kicked off a mail & online campaign to get its residents engaged on the proposed new residential zones their strategic planners have drafted. At first glance. Moreland have been quite liberal in their proposal now open for public comment - click here to view the dedicated site and full supporting document suite.
For convenience, here is the map of the proposed zone changes - copyright to City of Moreland, click for (much!) larger view.
What are the new reformed planning zones? With many thanks to the City of Moreland, they have produced a succinct two-pager outlining it clearly which can be viewed here (PDF).
Analysis
The backbone of Brunswick & Coburg - Sydney Road - along with Glenroy & Brunswick East (Lygon/Nicholson Streets) keep their own structure plans but interestingly in the south west of the Local Government Area (LGA), Brunswick West has a proposed widespread application of the new Residential Growth Zone intermixed with the strict Kavellaris Urban Design furthermore protected with a heritage overlay. From the southern boundary with the City of Melbourne on Park Street all the way to the intersection of Melville & Moreland roads, the #55 tram and various cross-town bus routes look set to have patronage increase considerably should this new zoning be applied and redevelopment kick off soon after.
I've previously written about the #506 bus route and should the proposed zone map look somewhat like the map Moreland have produced for public comment, the need to fix idiotic leftovers from the days when trams and buses competed for passengers will become even more apparent - more so north of Bell Street.
Melville & Albion Brunswick West, set to change under the proposed reformed zone implementation.
In the far south east of the LGA, Nicholson St - partly covered by an existing structure plan - appears to be headed for zoning consistency. The land not covered by the existing structure plan along the corridor is set to have the residential growth zone applied which just so happens to be the same region the Transforming Australian Cities strategy used as one of its 3 case studies.
The Bell Street corridor west of Sydney Road, specifically around the terminus of the #55 tram in Pascoe Vale South looks set to be protected which is curious given Bell Street has one of the best middle-ring suburban bus routes (actually, multiple routes) as well as radial tram access. With the advent of the Boondoggling East-West tunnel, if you were the State Government one would assume traffic through this corridor will reduce and therefore with a calmer road, building density could be increased creating a more appealing urban environment. Maybe City of Moreland doesn't see it that way?
Regardless, the video produced by Moreland (see their website) talks about increasing development intensity around existing shopping strips as well as Public Transport corridors - Kavellaris Urban Design and Bell Street has both yet it is proposed to be protected under the Residential Neighbourhood Zone.
Melville & Bell Pascoe Vale South - all the public transport infrastructure is here as well as existing retail space, yet is not set to receive new Residential Growth Zoning under the current Moreland proposal.
Up in the north of the LGA, Hadfield / West Street looks set to have the residential growth zone - where apartments/units up to 4 levels can be built. If you look at the current LGA map from Moreland on PTV's site, there's a single bus route which, like many all over the city, zig zags around back streets trying to do too many things at once. Serious input from Spring Street and PTV is required to streamline the routes north of Bell Street - applying a zone which could result in near 250-350 people/hectare living in buildings up to 4 levels away from the primary public transport corridors and the existing bus system is going to require work.
So Moreland residents, you can go here: http://www.morelandplanning.com/your-suburb enter your address and see the proposed changes relative to your address.