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Critics say a new Victorian government proposal designed to improve housing affordability could put pressure on inner-city streets.
A proposal from Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning could see existing minimum parking space requirements removed for new apartment buildings built near public transport hubs.
According to a report from The Age, the proposal was made in a discussion paper put to urban planners and councils in high-density suburbs like Essendon and Camberwell.
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Under the proposal, existing minimum standards for new developments – which require a certain number of car spaces to be included per dwelling – would be removed for buildings in areas deemed to have a high or medium public transport accessibility level (PTAL).
Instead, new maximum limits would be imposed, capping the number of parking spaces permitted per dwelling for developments in these high or medium PTAL areas, which could include Melbourne’s CBD and other suburban and regional hubs.
Meanwhile, areas deemed to have low or poor accessibility to public transport would retain the minimum parking requirements for new developments – requiring at least one space per one-bedroom dwelling – and have maximum limits removed.
The discussion paper suggests this strategy could improve housing affordability, allow for more density in inner-city suburbs, reduce congestion and combat problems with emissions and noise.
“Including a car parking space in a residential development can add up to $50,000 to the cost of an apartment,” the paper says, according to The Age.
“Minimum car parking requirements can encourage an oversupply of car parking, which results in increased traffic, noise and emissions and a poorer quality urban environment.”
The proposal is still a few steps away from becoming a formal policy, with the Department initially seeking feedback from stakeholders in November 2023, and currently in the process of reviewing this feedback and developing potential reforms.
Urban planning experts have voiced approval for the proposal, saying the move is “a long time coming”.
Professor Kim Dovey, the Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Melbourne, told radio station 3AW: “The research has been saying this is where we should be going for a long time”.
“Most of us have cars, it just means we’re separating the house from the car so if you’ve got a car and you choose to buy one of these apartments, you have to find your parking somewhere else. That will mean you pay for parking somewhere else,” Professor Dovey said.
However, radio host Ross Stevenson argued the reforms could place more pressure on already-limited on-street parking.
“What’s the point of that? If I buy one of these apartments and I’ve got a car, then I’m just parking the car somewhere else,” Mr Stevenson said.
Professor Dovey countered: “Why is the parking spot connected to the house in the first place?”
“Off-street parking has never really made a lot of sense because off-street parking is used a lot less efficiently than on-street parking where you vacate it and someone else [occupies it]. You don’t have to buy the apartment without the parking, you can go and buy a house with parking if you want to pay the extra money.”
Mr Stevenson argued the proposal would only benefit property developers seeking to squeeze more dwellings into less space.
“The beneficiary is the property developer who now where he would normally have put car parking spots is going to be able to build more apartments … the property developer is going to love it,” he said.
One of the councils that reviewed the paper, the City of Booroondara in Melbourne’s inner east, told The Age it was supportive of the reforms, despite anticipating push-back from the community.
“There may be some concern in the community about reduced parking requirements for new development. However, these should be weighed against the wider benefits for housing choice and affordability, development feasibility, traffic congestion and sustainability,” it told the newspaper.
The post ‘Separate the house from the car’: Proposal to scrap parking for apartments near public transport appeared first on Drive.
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