12 Nov A Tale of Two Residential Zones in Melbourne
What are the differences and similarities between the Housing Choice and Transport Zone and the Residential Growth Zone? At a broad level the intent of both zones is to support/encourage increased residential development, so why are they both applied?
Purpose of the Zone
The HCTZ has had a bit of “glow up” of the housing objectives including the mention of affordable housing, however at its heart the purpose of both zones is similar to support increased residential development in ‘good’ locations. Under the RGZ there is mention of providing buildings up to and including four storeys, however this isn’t a hard limitation as an individual schedule to the zone can be modified to increase the height and storey limits.
Height Limits
This leads to discussing the differences in height limits within the two zones. The Housing Choice and Transport Zone provides two options HCTZ1 and HCTZ2, with different maximum heights specified for each. The HCTZ2 provides a maximum height of 11 metres (except for larger sites). Having a maximum height of less than 13.5 metres is not something that can be done under the Residential Growth Zone, therefore the RGZ wouldn’t be the right zone for all of the activity centre catchment areas that have been rezoned HCTZ.
Underutilisation of the Site
The Residential Growth Zone includes a decision guideline to consider if the construction of just a single dwelling is under-utilisation of the site. However, as a single dwelling on lots of over 300sqm doesn’t require a planning permit under each zone, the instances of considering if a single dwelling is an underdevelopment for a smaller lot may be small. A decision under both zones must have regard to the purpose of the zone and a conclusion could be reach regardless of the inclusion of this specific decision guideline whether a development was inline with the intent or not.
Schedules to the Zone
Another difference between the zones is that only the Residential Growth Zone have schedules to the zone that allow for variations. Under the schedule to the RGZ the requirements of Clause 54, Clause 55 and the maximum building height can be changed. Additionally bespoke application requirements and decision guidelines for that area can be included. This allows for some area specific tailoring to the controls with the Residential Growth Zone over the Housing Choice and Transport Zone.
Why Are There Two Zones?
If the overarching intent of both zones is so similar, the question that comes to my mind is why create a new zone? These are the reasons that I can see:
- The purpose of the HCTZ has differences and if the RGZ was updated, then this update would apply to all areas not just the areas that were rezoned as part of the activity centre projects.
- With the height limits discussed above, to achieve the lower height limit of 11 metres that has been applied to the outer catchment area would require use of a General Residential Zone, since the height under the Residential Growth Zone can’t be reduced below 13.5 metres. This would be messier as it would involve using two zones and the continuity of the shared purpose for the areas would be removed. Utilising these zones would also require writing schedules to each of the zones to provide for other differences included in the Housing Choice and Transport Zone. Again this seems messier and more work.
Ultimately, while both the Housing Choice and Transport Zone and the Residential Growth Zone share a similar intent to support increased residential development there are differences to the two zones. Furthermore, as the Housing Choice and Transport Zone was prepared to support the rezoning of catchments around specific Activity Centres I can see that creating a new zone for this project was a more streamlined approach to achieve the state governments objectives.
Do you have a site that has recently been rezoned Housing Choice and Transport Zone? If you are looking for advice on next steps for developing the site we offer an obligation free initial chat so contact us to get your project rolling today!