Proposed estate causes neighbourhood angst, but others hope to ease housing problem

CRAIG Elston is concerned. The engineering surveyor currently lives next to a handsome, treed one-hectare property, but it could be transformed into a block of 43 units with an average lot size of 206 average square metres under a current planning application before council. "I'm worried that Bright is going to be left with a legacy of just another cabin park that will be sold off to the open market,” he said. The proposed development is a worry for residents who fear the small units are unsuited to the country town, but some see a welcome addition to Bright's housing diversity and a means of easing the town’s accommodation pressures. The planning application proposes an additional 43 units at 1-7 Toorak Rd, a property around 400 metres from the Bright CBD. Key features of the units include two bedrooms with ensuites, open plan kitchens and dining areas, and a single car garage. Mr Elston has concerns ranging from street and house design, building quality and housing mix. “Cars will be bumper to bumper on the roads,” he said. “It'll be congested, and there's no access for people to move around, to freely walk around, because there's no footpath.” As for addressing Bright’s chronic accommodation problem, Mr Elston believes if the houses are put to the open market most will be eaten up as holiday accommodation. “Anybody who is going to make more money from Airbnb than a normal rent will do that - that's only common sense,” he said. Joy Handley, who lives in one of the Toorak Court units abutting the property, is concerned with congestion from the proposed development. “Easter time we couldn’t even get out of Toorak Road into Star Road,” she said. “There was traffic all the way back up the Back Porepunkah Road around the corner, and all the way up the main street. “That will happen there every single day because there’s only parking for one car.” Ms Handley suggested units like hers on Toorak Court, which comprise eight lots at an average of around 500 square metres, would be better suited to the town. “Older people cry out for something like this in Bright,” she said. Walking around the neighbourhood, the Myrtleford Times/Alpine Observer spoke with another Toorak Road resident across who had submitted an objection to the proposed development, while another resident supported the proposal, hoping it would ease Bright’s accommodation problems. Scott Brandon, owner of the Bright Brewery, said the proposal’s small units are a needed addition to the town’s housing mix and their employees would likely prefer them. “We need to get away from this idea that all the houses in Bright have to be on a large block of land with three bedrooms,” he said. “A lot of our staff, we find, they’re more interested in spending time in the outdoors than looking after a house and a garden. “They're better off if they've got a low maintenance property.” The housing estate is proposed by the Deague Group, the same company behind Bright Valley, a multi-stage development consisting of around 350 houses at the Western edge of Bright. Deague Group chief executive officer Will Deague said the proposed 2-bedroom homes at Toorak Road provide diversity for Bright, offering a smaller, more affordable, housing option relative to the larger homes typical of the area. As for concerns around pedestrians, Mr Deague said the proposal contains low-speed private driveways, rather than roads, that are suitable width to allow pedestrians and vehicles to pass without conflict. “The private driveways are wide enough to allow visitors to park,” he said. “The provision of eight visitor spaces complies with the applicable planning controls for a development this size.” Mr Elston also alleged the houses will be made of low-grade concrete sheeting, but Mr Deague refutes this, saying that the concrete sheeting is needed for bushfire protection and is of a high quality. The application remains under active assessment with the Alpine Shire Council. Earlier this month council’s director of customer and community Helen Havercroft said they are seeking further information about the planning application, then it may need to be reviewed by referral agencies, and the application’s 20 submissions also need to be reviewed. “A decision will be made in due course,” she said. “At this stage it is likely that this application will be determined by councillors at an ordinary council meeting as a community interest application.”

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