[+] State Stifling Melbourne’s New ‘Pro-Development’ Mayor

For nearly four years, Nicholas Reece was the City of Melbourne’s deputy mayor. It is almost the same length of time the city has been waiting for the Victorian Government to approve planning amendments to get housing projects moving ahead. And now, with four months until local government elections will be held in Victoria, things are coming to a head. Reece has just stepped into the role of Lord Mayor after Sally Capp resigned last month. At the same time, the Victorian Government set housing targets for local government. The City of Melbourne needs to find 134,000 new homes by 2051. The long-awaited Fishermans Bend redevelopment is a big part of achieving that, but key amendments are still to be approved by the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning. Now, as the new lord mayor of the most populous capital in the nation, tackling that roadblock is on Reece’s shoulders. ‘I love fixing things ’ Reece has a laundry list of things to be done. “I love fixing things, solving problems, getting things done, and that’s absolutely what I’m going to do as Lord Mayor,” Reece says. And there are no shortage of problems to solve for the Carlton-supporting father-of-three, who told The Urban Developer he was “pro-development”. Chief among the issues is that planning amendments around flood mitigation, municipal planning and open spaces are still awaiting approval by the Victorian planning minister. That is delaying development work in areas including Fishermans Bend, according to Reece. “We need urgent approval of the City of Melbourne’s Municipal Planning Strategy and City Spatial Plan, approval of the Macaulay Structure Plan and Sunlight to Open Spaces plan,” Reece says. “These planning scheme amendments have been sitting with the department and with the minister for up to four years.” ▲ City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece (right) and Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Canberra last week. The delays have caused concern not only for the City of Melbourne but also the City of Port Phillip, whose municipality covers part of the Fishermans Bend precinct. Reece says the council will do everything it can to meet the housing targets but points out it truly is a big number. “To put it in perspective, Kensington currently has 5000 homes, and so we will need to deliver an entire suburb of Kensington every year for the next 26 years to achieve the targets,” Reece says. It’s a 122 per cent increase on the 110,000 homes in the City of Melbourne last year. Federal infrastructure minister Catherine King this year said the then lord mayor, Sally Capp, had told her that the council had 20,000 new homes approved in projects where construction had yet to start. Reece, who chaired the planning committee, Future Melbourne Committee, for the past seven years until his appointment as Lord Mayor, confirmed that. “There are currently close to 20,000 dwellings ... approved by council for development in the city, which have not proceeded to construction commencement,” he says. “So the City of Melbourne is approving a very big pipeline of new homes. “But unfortunately, we’re not seeing any building [on those projects] occurring at the moment.” While Reece would not be drawn on why he thinks the projects are not getting off the ground, it is well understood across the sector that soaring construction costs and economic conditions tightening lending and feasabilities are strangling development. ▲ Reece with City of Melbourne Council chief executive Alison Leighton at the announcement of the Citywide waste and recycling arm sale to Cleanaway. Source: City of Melbourne Those same economic conditions are also making the housing crisis harder for households. Off the back of that, Reece is keen to push for more affordable housing. The council has started work on an affordable housing policy and has taken advice on key-worker definitions. There are more than 1160 people experiencing homelessness with 85 estimated to be sleeping rough and the city has a shortage of 6000 affordable homes with 21 per cent of its households in housing stress. It is something, Reece, previously a director with The Big Issue, is well aware of. The city has since established Homes Melbourne as part of its response to the crisis. “We’re exploring the use of two council-owned sites ... and we’re negotiating with developers for private development contributions,” Reece says. “We need better tools to be able to do this and that’s why we’ve consistently advocated to the State Government for mandatory contributions to affordable housing from private development. “We need homes for Melbourne’s key workers, lower income families and those experiencing and at risk of homelessness.” Reece says we should take inspiration from other countries and build more vertical villages with mixed-use projects that include retail, education and health uses as well as apartments. “We need to think creatively about adaptive reuse of our mid-tier office towers,” Reece says. “We shouldn’t just be thinking about office to residential, we should be thinking about office to education, office to help, office to hospitality and entertainment. “You go to other big cities around the world, and they have vertical villages in their town with retail, education, health services—we haven’t had much of that in Australia.” And, Reece says that the Greenline project, originally Capp’s campaign promise , will be continued and completed. ▲ The new Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece has promised that the Greenline project will be continued and completed. Working with the state But with all that there is to do, does Reece think that meeting those housing targets is possible? Reece says yes—but it depends on the state. “Melbourne is blessed to have large tracts of developable land close to the city, whether that’s Fishermans Bend, Macaulay, West Melbourne,” Reece says. “But in order to get there, we’re going to need ... leadership from the State Government, starting with the delivery of high-capacity public transport infrastructure. “We need a metro rail line service, we need a tram service, we need help from the state in terms of delivering and funding open space and community infrastructure to support the increased population and protect our famous livability. “We need help with the delivery and funding of precinct flood mitigation works to unlock urban renewal areas, especially in Arden, Macaulay and Fishermans Bend.” ▲ A map of Fishermans Bend with all its precincts and the National Employment and Innovation Cluster. If this all sounds like a lot to accomplish in the four months until the October elections, it ’ s worth knowing Reece will run for Lord Mayor. He is not filling the spot until the poll. He has announced his intention to run as an independent in the elections. Reece began his working life as a solicitor with Maurice Blackburn before becoming a business journalist for the Australian Financial Review and then moving into public service roles and taking on a year-long stint as the Australian Labour Party’s state secretary. The director roles for The Big Issue and Movember Foundation and a school council president role followed before he became a regular contributor to Sky News. He is a principal fellow at the University of Melbourne. Several councillors will step down at the elections—the new Future Melbourne Committee chair Cr Rohan Leppert among them. Reece hopes that voters like what they see of him during the next 100 days as Melbourne’s 105th Lord Mayor and decide to keep him on. But before anyone else gets used to it, the man himself may have to. “I was just walking past someone who was talking about the Lord Mayor, and I was picturing Sally Capp as they were saying that, and then I realised no, it’s me,” Reece says. “It’s the honor of my life to be serving the city.” You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

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