Central Coburg 2020 Structure Plan Volume 1 - City … · town hall, churches, ... CENTRAL COBURG...

Moreland City Council

Central Coburg 2020 Structure Plan Volume 1

Adopted by Council on 9 August 2006

Moreland City Council acknowledges the traditional owners of the land, the Kulin Nation, of which the local

Indigenous people are the Wurrundjeri. Council is committed to building a trusting, collaborative and supportive

relationship with Indigenous groups, and to respecting identified Aboriginal sacred sites and special places.

1

Central Coburg 2020Structure PlanVolume 1

Adopted by Council on 9 August 2006

Moreland City Council acknowledges the traditional

2 CENTRAL COBURG 2020 STRUCTURE PLAN

A brief history of Coburg

When Europeans began visiting the area now known as Coburg in the 1830s,the Woiwurung people were custodians of grassland dotted with trees, andbounded by tree-lined watercourses carved through the basalt plains.

During the 1830s, in the early years of the establishment of Melbourne,colonial surveyors supervised by Robert Hoddle ‘imposed Europeanperceptions on the land by mapping it’ into portions ‘of 640 acres, allaligned to magnetic north.’ (Broome 1987, p. 34). This mapping enabled theestablishment of towns and roads, and the subsequent subdivision of theseportions for sale and exploitation for farming and quarrying.

The road, which was surveyed in 1838, was at first a track but after 1850developed as a major route to Sydney and the goldfields and was renamedSydney Road. To provide for public uses, a portion of 327 acres was setaside as the Pentridge Village Reserve in 1840, which today is the site of thetown hall, churches, cemetery and the recently decommissioned PentridgePrison. The marks of the early surveyors remain as the major determinantsof the urban morphology of the suburb we know as Coburg.

As the village of Pentridge developed, the NSW colonial governmentsought to establish civic institutions with crown grants of two-acre portionsof the Village Reserve land fronting Sydney Road to each of the Methodist,Anglican and Catholic Churches. These three institutions each sought toconsolidate their influence on the development of the colonial society withthe construction of bluestone churches-cum-school houses, followed bysubstantial separate church buildings and associated parish residences. Astate-sponsored school operated from the mid 1850s, and the oldestremaining component of the Coburg Primary School is the central block onthe south side of Bell Street from 1884.

The importance of Sydney Road as a route connecting the main colonialsettlements was recognised with the establishment of the ineffective SydneyRoad Trust in 1842. A Bell Street Bridge over the Merri Creek wasconstructed in 1857, subsequently reconstructed in 1880 and later twicewidened. The Pentridge District Roads Board was set up to manage thesethoroughfares in 1859.

Over the next one hundred years, a series of official decisions, speculativesubdivisions, and political lobbying consolidated Coburg as a municipaland service centre. The Upfield rail line, linking the village to Melbourne,was completed in 1884 and a cable tram paralleled it along Sydney Road asfar as Moreland Road in 1887. A horse tram completed the journey toGaffney Street until 1916.

3CENTRAL COBURG 2020 STRUCTURE PLAN

Following the establishment of the timber Pentridge stockade late in 1850,the permanency of Pentridge Prison, now the prominent built landmark inCoburg, was confirmed by bluestone buildings from 1857. Land wasgranted for municipal purposes and the first municipal hall was constructedin 1866. Responding to concern about the association of the village with theprison, the name of the former was changed to Coburg in 1870.

The municipality was granted shire status in 1875 and city status in 1922.The Coburg weir was constructed to create a recreational lake on the MerriCreek in 1915. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, architect CharlesHeath became a prominent figure in the development of Coburg with thedesign of the new town hall and municipal offices, which officially openedin November 1923, and City Oval’s grandstand in Bridges Reserve in 1925,as well as the Fawkner Memorial Park and major buildings in Brunswick.A long–called for municipal library was finally established in 1952.

By the time of World War 2, the land within central Coburg was fully built-up with individual houses and commercial premises. Following the war, anew series of influences changed the character of Coburg significantly. Thesmall allotments no longer served the needs of a changing retail landscape,wider car ownership and the advent of American-style retail outlets.

Coburg City Council worked with the nascent supermarket operators toconsolidate the land and clear much of the housing stock to accommodatethe large floor plates of the supermarkets, and their associated car parking.Most of Mary Street was closed to enable the relocation of Safeway to a

new supermarket (now BiLo), and the Community Library moved into thevacated Safeway premises on the corner of Victoria and Louisa Streets. In1965, the extension of Russell Street north to Sydney Road was facilitatedby an exchange of a portion of Bridges Reserve with the Primary School.

Coburg narrowly missed the wave of shopping centre development whichaffected so many other retail centres in the 1980s when a wholesaleredevelopment of the area bounded by Bell Street, Sydney Road, MunroStreet and the rail line as an enclosed shopping precinct with undergroundcar parking was proposed, but not implemented.

Apart from the churches and former penal buildings on the Village Reserve,little remains of the structures built in the early years of Coburg. Even thegrand post office of 1890 on Sydney Road, just south of Bell Street, has beendemolished. The Wesleyan meeting room of 1849 on Bell Street remains asthe oldest structure in Coburg, contemporary with the oldest remainingstructures in the Melbourne metropolitan area. A number of buildings, ofwhich the Bates Building of 1887 at 400 Sydney Road is the best example ,survive as reminders of the wealth of the boom years, and Pentridge Prisonhas begun a new life as a home for a different sort of community.Sources: Victorian Government 1988, Historical Records of Victoria: Surveyors’ Problems andachievements 1836–1839, vol. 5, Victorian Government Printing Office, Melbourne; RichardBroome 2001, Coburg: Between Two Creeks, 2nd edn, Coburg Historical Society and MorelandCity Council, Melbourne; and Laurie Burchell 1994, Coburg: More of our history, Coburg HistoricalSociety and Moreland City Council, Melbourne.

Coburg’s changing character, Sydney Road

Photo 1900 Coburg Post Office Photo 1951 Coburg Post Office Former Post Office site today

Contents


Volume 1A brief history of Coburg 2

Preface 5Mayor’s introduction 5Executive summary 6What is a structure plan? 7What is an activity centre? 7Why create a Central Coburg 2020 Structure Plan? 9How is this plan organised? 9How has the structure plan been developed? 11

Part 1 – Central Coburg Vision 13Coburg Activity Centre 13Central Coburg 2020 Vision 15From vision to structure plan 16Opportunities 17Challenges 18Level of change 19Current strengths and assets of Central Coburg 19Central Coburg Strategic Framework 19

Part 2 – Policy context and background work 21Policy context 21State policies 21Local Plannng Policy Framework 24Background work informing the structure plan 27

Part 3 – A sustainable Coburg 29Environmental 31Social 33Economic 34

Part 4 – Background and issues 35Demographic trends 35Retail, commercial and industrial activities 39Housing 42Access for all 44Open space network 45Transport and movement 46Public realm 49Built form 50Provision of social services 51Land configuration and ownership 52Municipal and service infrastructure 54

Appendix 1 – Current land use zones and overlays 57

List of mapsMap P.1 Boundaries of the Coburg Activity Centre 8Map 1.1 Coburg’s location within metropolitan Melbourne 14Map 1.2 Strategic Framework Plan 20Map 4.1 Land ownership in Coburg Activity Centre 53Map A.1 Current land use zones in Coburg Activity Centre 59Map A.2 Extent of heritage overlay 59Map A.3 Extent of current public acquisition overlay 60

Volume 2

Part 5 – Structure plan policies

Part 6 – Environmentally sustainable development

Part 7 – Precinct guidelines

Part 8 – Planning scheme requirements

Part 9 – Implementation

Glossary of terms


PrefaceMayor’s introduction

Take a momentwith me, toimagineCentral Coburgin the year2020. Whatchanges wouldyou imagine,expect, aspireto, for Sydney

Road, Bell Street, Coburg City Oval,public transport, and surroundingareas?

What if we could keep all thewonderful, unique aspects of ourCoburg of today, all the things wevalue about it right now, and add tothem and enhance them with newtechnology, innovative thinking,sustainable approaches, and carefulplanning, to breathe new life intoCentral Coburg and make it an evenbetter place to live, work and enjoyfor all members of our community?

What if Central Coburg coulddevelop into a major shopping, living,employment and activity precinct inMoreland? What if, together withState and Federal Government, localdevelopers, community groups andservice providers, we could transformit into a system of integratedpedestrian-friendly streets and

spaces, linked by networks of greenspace, tree-lined avenues, leafy parksand shady places to meet, providingeasy access for all members of ourcommunity, on foot, by bike, or bypublic transport?

Can you imagine a Central Coburgwhich has become a sought-afterliving environment – offering diversehousing choices, a fresh and vibrantshopping precinct, and a range ofservices all available in one centrallocation? A new Central Coburg witha strong economic base that providesconfidence for retailers andemployment opportunities for itscommunity?

This vision for Central Coburg,developed with community input andadopted by Council in 2003, hasinspired Council’s long-term view ofdevelopment in the Central Coburgarea. Drawing on this vision, Councildeveloped a draft structure planwhich offered strategies andprocesses for achieving this CentralCoburg of the future.

Having received knowledge, supportand feedback on the ideas outlinedin the draft plan, on Wednesday 9August 2006 Moreland City Councilapproved the Central Coburg 2020Structure Plan, which will guide theregeneration of Central Coburg over

the next 15 years. The adoption ofthe plan was the culmination of fiveyears’ consultation with the Coburgcommunity, traders, landowners,State Government agencies andother stakeholders.

Having consulted extensively with thecommunity and agreeing on a plan, itis very exciting to be able to presentthe adopted plan to you. Thisstructure plan is a visionarydocument. It reflects our hopes anddesires for our city and itscommunity. It contains all the valuesour community holds dear –environmentally sustainabledevelopment, accessibility for all,well-connected streets and well-managed traffic, high-quality amenityin living, shopping, services andrecreation. This plan provides anintegrated approach to developingCentral Coburg.

Your Council is committed to thisplan and its delivery over the comingyears. With a committed and unitedeffort, with careful planning andforethought that takes on board theneeds of all members of ourcommunity, Coburg really can be awonderful city of the future, asustainable city and a city of whichwe can all be proud.

But we can’t achieve this withoutyou. I would like to take thisopportunity to thank those whoprovided input in a variety of waysthroughout the preparation of theplan. I ask now that you maintainthat interest and get involved in thedesign and delivery of the projectsthat arise out of the plan.

Cr Anthony Helou JPMayor


Executive summaryThe Central Coburg 2020 StructurePlan outlines an exciting vision of thefuture for all residents of Moreland.The document provides a long-termframework for the regeneration ofthe Coburg Activity Centre over thenext fifteen years.

The activity centre extends along thetram corridor from Moreland Road toGaffney Street and includes theCoburg Shopping Centre and theredevelopment of the formerPentridge Prison. New developmentwill provide the opportunity to createa vibrant mixed use centre with moreservices, facilities and activity in ahigh quality environment.

Key features of the plan include:

• provision for 3,000 new dwellings• provision for 65,000 m2 additional

commercial/retail floor space• 1,400 new jobs for Moreland

residents with over 10,000 jobs over the construction phase

• over $900,000,000 of investmentin construction over the life of the project

• more residents in the core addingto the vitality of the public realm

• integration of community facilities and improved access topublic transport

• development controlled alongSydney Road shopping strip topreserve and build upon its

unique character• improved certainty for new

development for both developerand residents

• improved and additional publicplaces allowing for meeting placesfor all

• improved access to green open space.

The majority of additional dwellingsproposed for the activity centre willbe focused in new developmentbehind the Coburg Shopping Centreand at Pentridge. New housingopportunities will be provided in thecentre and requirements are outlinedfor more accessible housing and theinclusion of more affordable housing.

Expanded retailing will bring newjobs for Moreland’s residents,additional dollars to the Coburgeconomy and enable a greater retailoffer. This will be supported byadditional night time activitiesbringing more life and improvedsafety to the centre.

Enhanced movement systems aroundthe centre will ensure improvedpedestrian and cycling access,reduced transport congestion andbetter amenity. Pedestrian amenity isto be improved with a range of greenlinks through the centre and tosurrounding parkland. A series ofpublic open spaces are proposed thatwill provide places for the communityto meet, interact or just be.

A sustainable urban form is outlinedfor the activity centre through themovement network. Any newdevelopment will be required to meetstrict environmentally sustainabledevelopment (ESD) requirements toreduce impact on the earth’s resources.

A key focus of the structure plan ison creating an environment that isphysically suitable and sociallywelcoming to all people. Standardshave been set to ensure maximumaccess to all people of thecommunity, to housing, streets,public buildings, public spaces andtransport services.

To support the Coburg and Morelandcommunities, community facilitiesand services will be concentrated andencouraged to the activity centre. Arange of community hubs areproposed that will ensure that theneeds of the Coburg, and widerMoreland, population now and in thefuture are met.

Key projects proposed as part of thestructure plan include thedevelopment of a public transportinterchange to improve access to thecentre and move towards a moresustainable future. An informationand learning hub is also proposed,incorporating a new library suitableto the changing needs of the twenty-first century with meeting rooms,community spaces and othercompatible services.

The Central Coburg 2020 StructurePlan is a long-term plan. Its deliverywill require the input of a range ofpartners including residents, traders,community groups, the StateGovernment and private industry.Council will play a key role infacilitating this plan for theMoreland community.


What is a structure plan?A structure plan provides localcouncils and their communities witha long-term plan for integrated,systematic and consistentconsiderations and requirements toguide any proposal for change in agiven centre.

Structure planning is the process ofcreating a framework for theintegrated development of an activitycentre. Structure plans guide themajor changes to land use, built formand public spaces. The process ofdeveloping a structure plan should

produce both a framework,articulating how the centre willdevelop, and the actions needed torealise that framework. A structureplan will usually require a planningscheme amendment as one of itsimplementation mechanisms.

Structure planning for activity centresaims to give effect to the policiesand objectives set out for activitycentres in the Victorian StateGovernment’s policy Melbourne2030: Planning for SustainableGrowth and to provide effectively forchanging community needs.

What is an activity centre?Activity centres are places wherepeople can shop, work, meet, relaxand live. Well-served by publictransport, they provide a focus forservices, employment and socialinteraction. They range in size andintensity of use and include stripshopping centres, major educationand employment centres and centresfocused on regional malls.

Coburg has been identified as a‘principal activity centre’ in thehierarchy of Melbourne’s activitycentres. Principal activity centres areidentified as having characteristicsincluding a mix of activities, well-served by public transport, a verylarge catchment and potential togrow and support intensive housingdevelopments.

There are many ways to define theextent of an activity centre. Indefining the Coburg Activity Centre,a study area was first examined. Thestudy area generally examined anarea with a radius of 1 kilometrefrom the intersection of Bell Streetand Sydney Road, and along thetransport corridor of Sydney Road. Indefining the boundaries of theCoburg Activity Centre, the followingwere considered:

• land use• preferred future direction of

development• growth and change opportunities

• accessibility• areas to be protected from

undesirable change.

Following an extensive analysis of thisarea, the boundaries of the CoburgActivity Centre have been defined.Map P.1 outlines the extent of theCoburg Activity Centre.

8

Merri

Creek

Moreland Road

Nic

ho

lso

n S

tre

et

Bell Street

Harding Street

Sydn

ey R

oad

Ch

am

p S

tre

et

Bell Street

Munro Street

O’Hea Street

Murray Road

Hu

dso

n S

tre

et

Sy

dn

ey

Ro

ad

Rennie Street

Reynard Street

Bridges

Reserve

Lake Reserve

Bush Reserve

De Chene

Reserve

City

Oval

Victoria Street

Batman

Station

Moreland

Station

Tram 1

Terminus

Merri C

reek

Walsh Street

Ba

rro

w S

tre

etCoburg

Station

Former

Pentridge

Prison

Tramway

Railway

Train station or tram terminus

Study area

Coburg Activity Centre

Core of activity centre

0 100 200 300 400 500 m

Map P.1 Boundaries of the Coburg Activity Centre


Why create a Central Coburg2020 Structure Plan?The Central Coburg 2020 StructurePlan is a long-term plan to guidedecisions in the Coburg ActivityCentre. It is a holistic documentdeveloped within a triple–bottom lineframework where decisions havebeen made following considerationof their social, cultural, environmentaland economic consequences.

The structure plan will guide decisionsmade by Council in relation toactivities in both the private andpublic realm. It will be used to guidedecision making in relation toplanning development applicationsfor use and development in thecentre and amendments to theMoreland Planning Scheme. It willprovide the basis for the developmentof a Development Contributions Planand a Parking Precinct Plan which willprovide more detailed requirementsfor development.

The structure plan provides animportant document for Council inrelation to the delivery of servicesand the allocation of capital workswithin the Coburg Activity Centre.Services such as library and leisurefacilities provision andaccommodation will be influenced bythe plan. Capital works allocation,such as streetscape improvementsand drainage, will be determined bythe priorities set out in the plan.Transport makes a very important

contribution to the achievement ofthe outcomes of the plan and will befurther developed in a separatedocument to be titled Central CoburgIntegrated Transport Strategy. Thisstructure plan however, sets out theguiding principles for thedevelopment of that strategy.

The Central Coburg 2020 StructurePlan will provide the basis for fundingapplications to external bodies,including the State Government, forprojects identified in the plan, suchas community services and capitalworks projects.

How is this plan organised?The Central Coburg 2020 StructurePlan is organised in nine parts. Toensure that triple–bottom line factorsare considered in all decisions affectingthe Coburg Activity Centre, anyproposal for use or development in thecentre by the community or Councilwill be assessed against the policies,objectives and guidelines specified ineach part of the document.

The document is currently structuredin two volumes to ease readability ofthe plan and direct interest. Pleasenote, however, the plan must be readin its entirety to understand theinfluences on decisions made inVolume 2.

Volume 1 provides an overview ofthe project, detailing the backgroundinformation and the policy

Structure plan organisation

Central Coburg 2020 Vision

Policy

Precincts

Further background research strategic context

Objectives strategies

10 Geographic Precincts

Whole of Coburg Activity Centre

Specific areas

Figure P.1 Organisation of structure plan

Implementation


context within which the plan hasbeen developed.

Volume 2 sets out the future for theCoburg Activity Centre by outlining aseries of policies, objectives strategiesand guidelines for new development.The proposed method forimplementation of the plan is alsooutlined. The implementationstrategies and an implementationplan will comprise a third volume.

Figure P.1 demonstrates therelationship between components ofthe Structure Plan.

Volume 1

Part 1. Central Coburg Vision– outlines the vision developed forthe Coburg Activity Centre under theCentral Coburg 2020 project,developed in conjunction with thecommunity in 2003. It provides anoverview of how the development of the structure plan will advance the vision and the opportunities the structure plan will provide for Coburg.

Part 2. Policy context andbackground work– provides a summary of the strategiccontext and background workundertaken to develop the CentralCoburg 2020 Structure Plan buildingon the Central Coburg 2020 Vision.These have influenced thedevelopment of the plan.

Part 3. A sustainable Coburg– outlines Council’s commitment tosustainability through theconsideration of social, cultural,economic and environmental factors,known as the triple–bottom line. Asustainable Coburg is a key driver ofthe structure plan.

Part 4. Background and issues– outlines a summary of thebackground information and issuesarising from the information that thestructure plan needs to address.

Volume 2

Part 5. Structure Plan policies

– sets out the policies forredevelopment in the activity centre.The objectives establish the desiredfuture of the activity centre, while thestrategies articulate how this will beachieved. A number of key projectsalready identified, arising out of thedevelopment of the plan, are outlined.

Part 6. Environmentallysustainable development– details the environmental guidelinesfor all new development within theactivity centre. These aim to achievebest practice urban andenvironmental design.

Part 7. Precinct guidelines– sets out the guidelines for 10precincts identified within the activitycentre. Detailed guidelines for built

form and land use for newdevelopment are outlined, along withimprovements to the public realm tosupport the revitalisation of thecentre. Precinct-specific guidelineshighlight the particular qualities andopportunities afforded by differentareas. The contribution of eachprecinct to the activity centre isclearly articulated.

Part 8. Planning schemerequirements

– sets out the requirements for theassessment of planning applications.

Part 9. Implementation

– sets out the range of mechanismsavailable to deliver the structure plan.The stakeholders who couldcontribute to the delivery of thestructure plan are identified. Projectsidentified as critical to changing theperception of the centre andencouraging suitable redevelopmentare outlined. A range of governancearrangements for the delivery of thestructure plan within Council isoutlined.

Volume 3This volume will provide a detailedprogram of actions and projectsarising from the structure plan, andoutline priority level and partners.The governance arrangements will bedetermined.


How has the structure planbeen developed?The development of the CentralCoburg 2020 Structure Plan has beena staged process commencing withthe development of the CentralCoburg 2020 Vision. The CentralCoburg vision is articulated in thedocument titled Central Coburg 2020– Background Report and Vision. Thisdocument summarises the research,consultation and the final vision.

The structure plan has been shapedby a rigorous approach to research,community consultation andfeedback, debate and discussions toensure the best outcomes for theCoburg and Moreland communities.

Community consultation has been a fundamental element in thedevelopment of the Central Coburg 2020 Vision and thisapproach will flow through to thestructure plan.

The consultation program has beendesigned to ensure that thecommunity and key stakeholders playa meaningful role in the developmentand implementation of the vision.

The community and stakeholdercomments received to date wereused to inform the research andfindings of the next stage. A range oftechniques were used to engage thecommunity in the project: communitynewsletters with feedback sheets,information booths, community

discussions and workshops, websiteand information displays.

Figure P.2 provides a summary of theprocess used to develop the CentralCoburg 2020 Structure Plan frominception to the vision and then tothe structure plan. It outlines theextensive background research,analysis and consultation undertakenin the development of the plan.


Figure P.2 Project methodology during development of plan

Phase 1 – Research and analysis

Demographic analysis

Planning and land use analysis

Urban design andopen space analysis

Transport analysis

Economic analysis

Community facilitiesanalysis

Community consultationIssues, needs and visioning

• Postcards• Community discussion and workshops• Information booth• Community newsletter and feedback

sheets

Phase 2 – Setting the objectives

Project goal – 4 themes

Phase 3 – Developing and testing of vision Phase 4 – Structure plan development

• Neighbourhood qualities/built‘environment’

• People, activities, services• Moving around the area• The local economy

Five themes• The heart of Moreland• Quality spaces for people• A place to live• Linking the community• Networks of green

Adoption of Central Coburg 2020Vision (June 2003)

Adoption of Draft Central CoburgStructure Plan for Community

Consultation

Adoption of structure plan 9 August 2006

Background research and analysis Planning principles workshop

Community consultation

• Community newsletter • Feedback form


• Community newsletter• Web site• Community workshops• Feedback sheets• Information displays• Information booths

Development of vision with outcomes and key actions

• Social and cultural needs assessment• Inventory of Council-owned land• Traffic modelling• Transport interchange feasibility study• Retail business plan• Development options assessment

Development of draft structure plan

Testing the vision

Review of comments and changes

Implementation phase• Develop implementation plan• Planning scheme amendment• Development contributions plan• Parking precinct plan• Capital works• Service delivery

2001–2002 2002–2003 2003–2005 2005–2006


• Newspaper insert• Website• Community workshops• Information display • Feedback sheet

Central Coburg 2020 Structure Plan Volume 1 - City … · town hall, churches, ... CENTRAL COBURG...

Documents

Transcript of Central Coburg 2020 Structure Plan Volume 1 - City … · town hall, churches, ... CENTRAL COBURG...