5 Belchester Avenue, Coldstream

As most of you know by now there will be a dual occ at the rear of 5 Belchester Av Coldstream.

The Shire took the applicant (Crossman Investments) to VCAT over this application but VCAT decided in favour of the applicant.

The Shire case and applicant response is detailed in the link below. The link also includes the VCAT reasons as to why this application was given the go ahead.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2008/2274.html?query=^belchester

Click on the title above to read the VCAT decision on the first dual occ in Coldstream.

Below are just a few paragraphs from the report of Dr S. Mainwaring (VCAT)

There are a number of covenants affecting lands in the Coldstream township. The subject site is subject to a covenant which requires the land to be used for residential purposes. At a rough estimate from the information provided to the Tribunal by the applicant, approximately half the land in the Coldstream township is either not covered by a covenant or is covered by the covenant that restricts the use of the land for residential purposes with the remaining half of the land being subject to a covenant which limits development to a single dwelling.


The township of Coldstream does have a number of commercial and community services. These include the supermarket, take-away food premises, newsagency, restaurants, timber and hardware supplies, post office and various rural based service industries such as a vet, saddle and leather repairs and trailer hire. With respect to community facilities there is a primary school, sports oval, kindergarten, CFA and a number of sports and social service clubs. There is a bus route along the Maroondah Highway 350m from the site and the township is some 4.5km from the Lilydale railway station and the additional services that the township of Lilydale provides which include a secondary school which presumably would provide a bus service to children from Coldstream.


In light of the above I find it to be inconceivable that the addition of a small two storey dwelling to the residential stock of the township will stretch the services of the town, pr set a precedent for inappropriate expansion. In this regard it has to be accepted that if all the residentially zoned land within Coldstream that potentially could be developed with a dual occupancy were to be so developed, the maximum increase in households would be of the order of 25%. This in any event is an unlikely circumstance nor is it in the Tribunal’s view likely that the kind of development that would occur in this township would be what is typically considered to be medium density and would more typically be a dual occupancy where a second dwelling is built to the rear of an existing one. The argument that any such development would result in sufficient pressure to require additional land to be zoned for commercial uses is not supportable given that there are two small business zones within the town and a large and underutilised mixed use zone


The Shire has a Character Study which places the subject site within the Coldstream 1 Precinct. In the Tribunal’s view there is no aspect of the precinct description characteristics preferred character statement and guidelines which would suggest that the proposed development is unsuitable.