THE Liberal Party has pledged to throw out three-storey house height limits in areas across the Mornington Peninsula if it wins the November state election.
Mr Davis said three storey height limits were “completely inappropriate for any areas in the peninsula”.
“I think [Mornington Peninsula Shire] council has been quite right in saying this should be stopped in this area,” he said. “They [the shire] have had no support from the current government on that. We would certainly ensure that there were sensible protections put back in place for many of those areas.”
Mr Davis said “sensible protections” meant reducing height limits to two storeys while scrapping “as-of-right” three-storey limits.
He said a Liberal Nationals government would reintroduce the two dwelling limit on lots in the Neighbourhood Residential Zone, reduce building height limits in parts of that zone, and bring back the nine-metre discretionary height limit in the General Residential Zone.
He said the party would review the Garden Area rule – which stipulates areas of green, open space – to make it “more sensible and workable”.
Mr Davis was in leafy Glen Iris last week standing alongside opposition leader Matthew Guy, who said he would change zoning rules to mirror those he imposed when he was planning minister 2010-14.
These would make it harder to build medium-density housing on established streets under two-storey height limits.
The height limits were the subject of a failed Coalition planning and environment amendment in state parliament last month which supporters believe would have strengthened attempts to overturn the already implemented 11-metre, three-storey height limits on the peninsula. (“Greens in blue over planning” The News 4/6/18).
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 26 June 2018
