A report to the Future Melbourne Planning Committee by the head of the City of Melbourne’s Planning & Building division has recommended that the application be rejected.
The landlord Jinshan Investment’s first application was refused by the Minister for Planning on Tuesday January 21 this year, after the City of Melbourne expressed an objection.
The current application calls for the building of a 50.65 metres (previously 72.25m) boutique hotel with four basement levels for 123 car parking spaces, and the creation of a new section of laneway which links Corporation Lane and a private lane. Planning & Building noted there were 700 objections, “many of which are identical” and concerned about the loss of the Palace Theatre as a live music venue.
The Planning & Building report called the proposed project an “overdevelopment” adding, “It is evident that in aspects the application team has no regard for heritage.”
Key issues are that the height and massing of the proposed building “are contrary to the Design and Development Overlay Schedule 2” which maintains the low rise high density form of the Chinatown and the Bourke Hill precinct “and to ensure the Parliamentary buildings remain dominant.”
It adds, “The unique character experienced in this part of the city will be severely compromised as a result of the potential for two towers to dominate the low-scale nature of the area.”
Staff didn’t have a problem with the removal of the Palace Theatre’s façade but concerned about a neighbouring Victorian-era building.
The recommendation also points out that the lack of setbacks is unacceptable and “The application does not sufficiently consider the development potential of surrounding sites, in particular the adjoining sites to the north and north.”
