Victoria Street Central is located on Victoria Street between the North Richmond Railway Station and Nicholson Street / Lennox Street and includes some properties fronting Butler, Nicholson and Little Charles Streets.
The precinct is part of the retail heart of the Victoria Street containing a mix of shops, cafes and restaurants, offices and apartments. It also includes some service industries such as car repairs on Little Butler Street. The precinct features some individual and some small clusters of heritage buildings
Through draft Amendment C291yara, Yarra City Council is proposing to apply a new Design and Development Overlay - Schedule 47 (DDO47) to Victoria Street Central.
DDO47 would replace an interim DDO, DDO22, which applies to this precinct and the rest of Victoria Street.
Built form and design requirements in the DDO relate to front setbacks, street wall height, setbacks for upper levels, building height and transition of potential development towards residential properties at the rear. The DDO also includes requirements and guidelines regarding overshadowing, facade design, transport and access and others.
The amendment also includes new policy which describes the proposed future character of Victoria Street Central (see Clause 21.11 – Local Areas).
What is this Design and Development Overlay trying to achieve?
Draft Design and Development Overlay - Schedule 47 (DDO47) supports mid-rise development ranging from 5 to 7 storeys along Victoria Street. Lower heights of 3 and 4 storeys apply in Little Charles and fronting Butler Street.
As core part of the retail heart of Victoria Street, in this precinct, development should retain the prominent street wall (the height of the building on the street) made up of the single and double shops and restaurants fronting Victoria Street. Any new or infill buildings need to match this predominant street wall height.
Any development above the street wall should be pushed back by at least 6 metres to help reinforce the existing scale.
Development should retain the visual prominence of heritage buildings, corners and streetscape.
It supports new high quality development that encourages a mix of uses close to North Richmond Station and activates important pedestrian routes to and from the Station and a potential future urban space at Jonas Street.
Under the DDO, development should be designed to create safe, active and attractive street frontages. Development must be designed to make sure it retains sunlight to important footpaths along Victoria Street, Shelley Street, Charles Street, Nicholson Street and the Butler Street Park.
It also aims to provide a transition to low scale residential areas which abut the Precinct, while making sure new development minimises its amenity impacts. This includes minimising overlooking, overshadowing and visual bulk.
Further information (Exhibited Documents)
Draft DDO47 and updates to Local Policy are proposed to become part of the Yarra Planning Scheme.
See the following documents for all the details:
Draft DDO47 - Information Sheet – Provides a summary of some requirements and where they apply can be found in the DDO. They are not part of the formal amendment documentation.
Draft DDO47 - Formal amendment document and built form and design requirements for the precinct. Read the entire DDO here.
Local Policy 21.12 – Contains the Preferred Future Character Statement for the precinct and other policy.