---

title: Residential Zones Review (future) council: ballarat state: vic category: strategy classification: MAJOR status: scoping (community consultation planned 2025; planning scheme amendment to follow) last_compiled: 2026-04-16 source_docs:

• housing-strategy-2041.txt
• neighbourhood-character-study.txt
• ballarat-municipal-housing-capacity-assessment-tract-2022-extracted.txt
• ballarat-infill-uptake-analysis-sgs-2024.txt
• ballarats-future-housing-2021-2041-housing-needs-analysis-sgs-2023.txt
• affordable-housing-position-statement-final-2022.txt
• social-and-affordable-housing-action-plan_july-2024.txt
• vpa-victorian-planning-authority-small-lot-housing-code-november-2024.txt
• 14-august-2024-planning-delegated-committee-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
• 14-august-2024-planning-delegated-committee-minutes.txt
• 27-november-2024-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
• 26-february-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
• 28-may-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
• 25-june-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
• council-plan-2025-2029.txt
• 8-june-2022-planning-delegated-committee-agenda-with-attachments_part1.txt
• 8-june-2022-planning-delegated-committee-minutes_0.txt
• council-meeting-agenda-12-june-2019_part1.txt
• 22-july-2020-ordinary-council-meeting-agenda.txt
• 30-october-2019-ordinary-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments_reduced_part2.txt
• part_4.txt
• ballarat-strategy-2040.txt

---

Residential Zones Review (future)

The Residential Zones Review is the second-stage statutory implementation mechanism of the housing-strategy-2041. Where the first-stage amendment (C254ball, authorised by Council on 14 August 2024) inserts the Housing Strategy and Growth Areas Framework Plan into the Municipal Strategic Statement to give the change areas (Minimal / Incremental / Substantial) policy weight, the Residential Zones Review is the project that will translate those change areas into the statutory zone fabric of the Ballarat Planning Scheme — replacing or rescheduling the General Residential Zone Schedule 1 (GRZ1), Neighbourhood Residential Zone schedules (NRZ), Residential Growth Zone Schedule 1 (RGZ1), Low Density Residential Zone (LDRZ) and Township Zone (TZ) controls that currently apply across the municipality. Without this second amendment, the change areas remain a policy aspiration with no enforceable mechanism to require (or even permit) the densities, housing types or character outcomes that the Strategy contemplates: every planning permit application will continue to be assessed against the current GRZ1 schedule (which lacks any preferred neighbourhood character variations and applies a standard maximum height of 11m or three storeys across most of the city), the current RGZ1 schedule (which similarly contains no Ballarat-specific design controls), the existing two NRZ schedules (introduced ad-hoc through C190 in 2014 over land in Buninyong and through the C177 Ministerial reform in 2014 elsewhere), and the existing LDRZ and TZ provisions.

The Residential Zones Review is the least developed of all major Housing Strategy implementation actions: as of the 28 May 2025 Council quarterly performance report it was 48% complete with the deliverable described as “Review of the Ballarat Planning Scheme is being completed. Community consultation in 2025” (Source: 28-may-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt). No exposure draft of the new zone schedules has been released. No timeline for exhibition has been announced. No planning scheme amendment number has been allocated. No public submissions exist because there is no document yet to submit on. Yet this is the amendment that — more than C254ball, more than the neighbourhood-character-study, more than any urban renewal structure plan — will determine the actual development outcomes in Ballarat’s established residential areas for the next 15 years. The 2,191 dwellings notionally allocated to the Wendouree Station Substantial Change Area (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt, Table 11), the 31,250 dwellings of theoretical capacity in the established areas (Source: ballarat-municipal-housing-capacity-assessment-tract-2022-extracted.txt), and the 50:50 (eventually 70:30) infill/greenfield split that the Housing Strategy commits to — none of these can be delivered through current zoning. They depend on the Residential Zones Review.

This page maps the regulatory architecture the Review must construct, traces the dependency chain back through the Housing Strategy and forward through development feasibility, identifies the technical translation problems (what specific zone applies to which specific parcel), and examines the contested issues — the trade-off between PPN91 substantial-change zones (which favour development) and Heritage Overlay constraints (which constrain it), the question of whether to mandate inclusionary affordable housing in new residential growth zones, the treatment of Future Homes overlay land within 800m of Wendouree and Ballarat Railway Stations, and the unresolved question of what happens to the existing Convenience Living Corridor zoning patterns once Clauses 21.02-2 and 21.08-1 (which support that policy concept) are deleted by C254ball.

Background

What the Residential Zones Review is, and why it must follow the Housing Strategy

The Residential Zones Review is required by the implementation pathway prescribed in Planning Practice Note 90 (Planning for Housing) and Planning Practice Note 91 (Using the Residential Zones), both of which the Housing Strategy 2041 explicitly cites as having “informed the preparation of the Ballarat Housing Strategy” (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt, line 1170).

PPN90 sets out the process local councils must follow to establish a Residential Development Framework (RDF). The RDF has three components: (1) a Housing Strategy (which projects population growth over at least 15 years, identifies infill capacity, and locates growth); (2) a Neighbourhood Character Strategy (which identifies preferred character outcomes); and (3) Residential Change Areas (which categorise residential land into substantial, incremental, and minimal change). The Housing Strategy 2041 and the neighbourhood-character-study together comprise components (1) and (2). The Change Areas in the Housing Framework Plan (Figure 17 of the Strategy) constitute component (3). (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt §“Department of Transport and Planning Practice Notes”)

PPN91 then governs statutory implementation of the RDF: how the change areas translate into zone selections (LDRZ / TZ / NRZ / GRZ / RGZ / MUZ), and how the zone features (minimum subdivision area, minimum garden area, permit requirement for one dwelling on a lot, Clause 54 and Clause 55 variations, building height and setback variations) are calibrated through zone schedules to deliver the preferred neighbourhood character. Figure 6 of the Housing Strategy reproduces this PPN90/91 framework as a flow diagram showing Strategic planning (PPN90) → Residential Development Framework → Statutory implementation (PPN91) → Applying the residential zones (LDRZ, TZ, NRZ, GRZ, RGZ, MUZ) → Using the features of the residential zones (Local variations) (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt §Figure 6).

The Housing Strategy is explicit that it does not itself change zoning. It states: “It does not change the permitted uses of land or the density of dwellings permitted by the Ballarat Planning Scheme. The Residential Zones Review will provide certainty about housing growth.” (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt, lines 1162–1165). The Strategy lists, under its “Next Stages” diagram, four sequential implementation steps:

1. A planning scheme amendment to implement the Housing Strategy and Ballarat Growth Area Framework Plan into the Ballarat Planning Scheme. (This is C254ball, authorised August 2024.)
2. A review of residential zones and overlays in line with the recommendations of the Housing Strategy. (This is the Residential Zones Review — the subject of this page.)
3. A planning scheme amendment to implement the findings of the review of residential zones and overlays including the application of new residential zones to provide certainty about the scale of growth. (A future amendment, expected after the Review concludes — no number assigned.)
4. Undertake structure planning for Urban Renewal Areas. (Six urban renewal precincts identified; only the Wendouree Station Masterplan and CBD Urban Design Framework have any prior planning work — see wendouree-station-precinct and cbd-urban-design-framework.)

(Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt §Figure 1)

Steps 2 and 3 are the Residential Zones Review and its statutory implementation. They are sequential, not concurrent: the Review must produce findings before an amendment can be drafted to implement them. As of mid-2025 the Review is in scoping (preparing recommendations), with no draft amendment.

The 2014 Ministerial reform — the only previous comprehensive zone review in Ballarat

The current pattern of residential zones in Ballarat was established by Amendment C177, gazetted on 9 October 2014. The amendment was prepared by the (then) Minister for Planning and adopted under Section 20(4) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987, which exempts it from notice — meaning the community had no opportunity to make submissions. (Source: 8-june-2022-planning-delegated-committee-agenda-with-attachments_part1.txt, lines 287–290; part_4.txt, lines 10075–10086)

The C177 Ministerial Reform Residential Zones amendment did the following (Source: part_4.txt, lines 10079–10086):

• Amended the **

Section clipped to keep the wiki page within the production size contract. Source files remain in the repository/extracted evidence corpus.

Analysis

1. The translation problem — change areas to zone schedules

The Housing Strategy’s three-tier change area framework (Substantial / Incremental / Minimal) and the neighbourhood-character-study’s six character types (Bush Residential, Garden Court, Garden Residential, Lakeside Garden, Rural Residential, Urban Core) intersect to define the technical translation problem the Review must solve. (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt §Figure 17; neighbourhood-character-study.txt §“7.0 Updated Neighbourhood Character Types”)

Each parcel of residential land in Ballarat is therefore characterised by two classifications coming out of the Housing Strategy/NCS work:

• Change category (Substantial / Incremental / Minimal) — drives the intensity of permissible development.
• Character type (Bush Residential 1, Bush Residential 2, Garden Court 1, Garden Court 2, Garden Residential, Lakeside Garden, Rural Residential 1, Rural Residential 2, Urban Core 1, Urban Core 2) — drives the form of permissible development.

PPN91 maps change categories to zone selections in the standard pattern:

• Substantial change → Residential Growth Zone (RGZ) or Mixed Use Zone (MUZ), with maximum heights up to four storeys (RGZ default).
• Incremental change → General Residential Zone (GRZ), with maximum heights up to three storeys.
• Minimal change → Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ), with maximum heights up to two storeys (the default ResCode height limit).
• Plus Low Density Residential Zone (LDRZ) for outer rural-residential areas, and Township Zone (TZ) for small townships including Buninyong, Cardigan, Miners Rest, Learmonth, Smythesdale.

(Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt §Figure 6 Statutory implementation (PPN91))

But the schedule to each zone — the local variation document that allows councils to vary minimum subdivision area, minimum garden area, the permit requirement for a single dwelling on a lot, Clause 54 and 55 standards, building height, setbacks, site coverage, and design objectives — is where the character type translation occurs. A Garden Court 1 area within an Incremental Change designation may be zoned GRZ-Schedule X with character objectives, design guidelines, and dimensional standards specific to Garden Court 1. A Garden Court 1 area within a Substantial Change designation may be zoned RGZ-Schedule Y with character objectives that allow taller buildings while still respecting Garden Court 1 setback rhythms and dwelling typology.

The number of distinct schedules required is approximately the product of change categories with permissible zone change × character types — but with logical exclusions (e.g., Bush Residential is generally Minimal Change due to bushfire risk, so no Substantial Bush Residential schedule is required). A reasonable estimate of the number of new or revised zone schedules:

Character type	Minimal (NRZ-S)	Incremental (GRZ-S)	Substantial (RGZ-S / MUZ)
Bush Residential 1	NRZ–BR1	(rare, see note)	—
Bush Residential 2	NRZ–BR2	(rare, see note)	—
Garden Court 1	(limited)	GRZ–GC1	RGZ–GC1 (Wendouree-area)
Garden Court 2	(limited)	GRZ–GC2	(rare)
Garden Residential	NRZ–GR (HO areas)	GRZ–GR	RGZ–GR (CBD-fringe)
Lakeside Garden	NRZ–LG (Lake Wendouree)	GRZ–LG	—
Rural Residential 1	LDRZ–RR1 / NRZ–RR1	—	—
Rural Residential 2	LDRZ–RR2	—	—
Urban Core 1	(limited; HO-protected)	GRZ–UC1	RGZ–UC1 (CBD-fringe)
Urban Core 2	(limited)	GRZ–UC2	RGZ–UC2 (substantial)

(Notes on the table — derived from the geographic correspondences described in: housing-strategy-2041.txt §“Substantial Change Areas”, §“Incremental Change Areas”, §“Minimal Change Areas”; neighbourhood-character-study.txt §“7.0 Updated Neighbourhood Character Types”)

This implies in the order of 15–20 distinct zone schedules to give effect to the change-area × character-type matrix — a large statutory product compared to the current Ballarat scheme which has approximately 3 residential zone schedules in active use (GRZ1, RGZ1, NRZ1 + the C190 Buninyong NRZ Schedule 2). The Review must either prepare each schedule (a multi-year drafting exercise) or use a smaller number of schedules with more flexible internal classification (less precise but faster to deliver).

The C190 amendment (gazetted 20 Nove

Section clipped to keep the wiki page within the production size contract. Source files remain in the repository/extracted evidence corpus.

Current Status

Status as at April 2026: Review document in preparation. Last reported progress 48% complete (Q4 2024–25, 28 May 2025 quarterly report). Community consultation flagged for “2025” but no formal launch confirmed in the corpus. No draft exposure document. No amendment number allocated.

Planning Delegated Committee actions on the Review: The Review has not yet been the subject of a substantive Council resolution. C254ball (the Housing Strategy implementation amendment) was authorised on 14 August 2024 as a separate amendment. Discussion of the Review in officer reports has been confined to action-progress reporting, not substantive scope decisions.

Key officers responsible: Per officer attributions in adjacent strategy reports, likely to include:

• Evan Burman — Principal Strategic Planner and Urban Designer
• Peter Dreimanis — Strategic Planner
• Fiona Koutsivos — Principal Planner Sustainable Growth
• Joanna Cuscaden — Executive Manager Development Facilitation
• Director: Natalie Robertson — Director Development and Growth

Lead division: Development and Growth (Strategic Planning & Sustainable Growth team).

Project owner: City of Ballarat (the Council is the planning authority for the Review).

Statutory authority: The eventual amendment will be prepared under s8A of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and exhibited under s19. Approval by the Minister for Planning required.

Public engagement to date: None specific to the Review (the 2023 Housing Strategy consultation included issues relevant to the Review but did not consult on draft zone schedules).

Next milestones (estimated):

• 2025 (likely H2): Community consultation on draft Review recommendations
• 2026 (H1): Council resolution on Review findings; request for amendment authorisation
• 2026–27: Authorisation, exhibition, submissions, panel
• 2027–28: Adoption and gazettal

Dependencies

• Blocks: Wendouree Station urban renewal delivery (requires zone palette); Latrobe Street structure plan implementation (requires zone palette); Ballarat East precinct redevelopment; Skipton Street and Lal Lal Street individual rezonings; the bulk of the Housing Strategy’s 8,643-dwelling urban renewal yield; uplift in established-area dwelling capacity from 30,261 (current) toward the 31,250 (with change areas) and beyond; delivery of the Council Plan 2025–2029 action “Progress review of residential zones in response to Ballarat Housing Strategy”; achievement of the 50:50 infill/greenfield aspiration through statutory zone settings.

• Blocked by: housing-strategy-2041 (provides the policy basis — adopted Aug 2024); neighbourhood-character-study (provides character types — adopted Aug 2024); C254ball gazettal (provides the statutory policy framework against which zoning changes can be justified — authorised Aug 2024, not yet gazetted as at corpus date); availability of strategic planning team capacity; resolution of Heritage Gaps Review sequencing.

• Informed by:

  • housing-strategy-2041 — change area framework (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt)
  • neighbourhood-character-study — six character types and preferred character statements (Source: neighbourhood-character-study.txt)
  • Tract Municipal Housing Capacity Assessment (2022) — capacity baseline (Source: ballarat-municipal-housing-capacity-assessment-tract-2022-extracted.txt)
  • SGS Housing Needs Analysis (2023) — demand projections (Source: ballarats-future-housing-2021-2041-housing-needs-analysis-sgs-2023.txt)
  • SGS Infill Uptake Analysis (2024) — three infill scenarios (Source: ballarat-infill-uptake-analysis-sgs-2024.txt)
  • Ethos Urban Neighbourhood Character Study (Aug 2024) — design objectives per character area (Source: neighbourhood-character-study.txt)
  • Astrolabe Infill Prioritisation Framework (2024) — urban renewal area sequencing
  • Strategic Planning for Bushfire (Kevin Hazell, 2020) — bushfire landscape categories (3a/3b/4)
  • PPN90 (Planning for Housing) and PPN91 (Using the Residential Zones)
  • State policy: Victoria’s Housing Statement (Sep 2023); Future Homes; Small Second Homes; VC242/VC243; draft Plan for Victoria

• Implements: The Housing Strategy 2041 statutory implementation pathway (Step 2 of the four-step Next Stages diagram); the Council Plan 2025–2029 housing supply objective; Outcome 1 of the Housing Strategy (“Ballarat has sufficient housing supply to support population growth”); Outcome 3 (“Ballarat provides housing choice in locations close to schools, jobs, transport and services”); Outcome 4 (“Ballarat is distinctive for heritage, character and design”); the State PPN90/91 RDF requirement.

• Conflicts with: The current GRZ1 schedule (which lacks character variations and applies generically); the Convenience Living Corridors framework in current Cl 21.02-2 (deleted by C254ball); legacy 2014 RGZ1 application around Wendouree Activity Centre (which the Strategy now designates partly Substantial, partly Incremental — requiring re-application); existing landowner expectations under GRZ1 in Minimal Change Areas (where down-zoning is likely); the implicit assumption in some 2014 Ministerial-reform-era VCAT decisions that Convenience Living Corridor designation justifies higher-density (this support disappears post-C254ball).

Cross-Jurisdictional Links

• DTP (Department of Transport and Planning): Will review the Review’s amendment for consistency with PPN90/91 and state housing policy. Likely to push for higher capacity in line with Plan for Victoria targets.
• VPA (Victorian Planning Authority): Adjacent through the Ballarat North PSP work (C256ball — see ballarat-north-psp) and the future Western and North-Western Growth Area PSPs. The Review affects established areas, not PSP land.
• Central Highlands Water: Servicing implications of higher-density Substantial Change Areas. Identified as input to the Urban Renewal Area Prioritisation Framework.
• Powercor (electricity) and AusNet (gas): Distribution capacity implications of higher-density zoning.
• Heritage Victoria: Interface with the Heritage Gaps Review and with HO coverage in inner Ballarat residential areas.
• CFA (Country Fire Authority): Bushfire interface treatment in NRZ schedules (Brown Hill, Buninyong, Mount Helen, Mount Clear, eastern bushland fringe).
• EPA (Environment Protection Authority): Environmental Audit Overlay requirements for Substantial Change Area sites with industrial history.
• Adjacent councils — Hepburn (north), Moorabool (east), Golden Plains (south), Pyrenees (west): Indirect housing market interactions; no direct planning scheme dependencies.
• Federal — Housing Australia, National Housing Accord, HAFF: The Review’s provisions for affordable housing (if inclusionary mechanisms are introduced) interact with federal investment programs.

Gaps in This Analysis

The following facts are referenced in the corpus but the underlying source documents are not in the corpus:

1. The Review document itself. As of the corpus date (early 2026) no Review report or recommendations document is in the corpus, because none has been publicly released. The Review is described in officer progress reports as “Review of the Ballarat Planning Scheme is being completed” but the actual document is not yet exhibited.

2. The current GRZ1, RGZ1, NRZ1, NRZ2, LDRZ schedule text. The Ballarat Planning Scheme schedule text for each residential zone schedule is not directly in the corpus — only the C177 amendment metadata that introduced them. The full schedule text is required to assess what specifically would change.

3. The Astrolabe Infill Prioritisation Framework (2024). Cited in the Housing Strategy as informing Substantial Change Area sequencing; not in the corpus.

4. The Tract Accessibility and Connectivity Analysis (2023/2024). Cited as the basis for the 70% accessibility threshold that defines Substantial Change Area eligibility; not in the corpus as a standalone document (extracted only as appendix material in the Strategy).

5. The Kevin Hazell Strategic Planning for Bushfire (2020). Cited as the source of bushfire landscape 3a/3b/4 categorisation that drives Minimal Change Area designation; not in the corpus.

6. Detailed Neighbourhood Character Study character precinct profiles. The NCS extract in the corpus describes the six character types but does not provide the parcel-level character precinct mapping.

7. The full text of C254ball. The 14 August 2024 officer report describes the amendment but the full text of the proposed Cl 21.01, 21.02, 21.08, 21.09 changes is not in the corpus as extracted text.

8. The text of C190 (Buninyong NRZ2) and other historical zone amendments. Only metadata extracts are in the corpus.

9. VCAT decisions on Park Street/Wendouree applications post-2022. The 2010 Creelman decision and the 2020 Guest decision are referenced; subsequent VCAT activity is not.

10. Anticipated submissions volume and content. Because the Review is not yet exhibited, no submissions exist. Anticipation is based on adjacent process patterns.

These gaps are recorded in data/gaps-residential-zones-review.txt for follow-up via the gap-filling workflow.

Appendix A: The six Neighbourhood Character Types — analytical translation to zone schedules

The Neighbourhood Character Study identifies six character types that must be translated into the design objectives, decision guidelines and dimensional standards of the Residential Zones Review’s schedules. Each character type is analysed below for its likely zone-schedule treatment.

A1. Bush Residential 1

Character description (NCS): Features Post-war, modern and occasional Contemporary dwellings; moderately sized lots and typical front and side setbacks; intermittent views to surrounding bushland; mixture of informal and formal landscaped gardens; curvilinear street layout with sealed roads; undulating to sloping topography (Source: neighbourhood-character-study.txt, lines 2578–2586).

Geographic application: Eastern fringe of Ballarat — Brown Hill (eastern), Mount Helen, parts of Mount Clear, Buninyong fringe; areas adjacent to or within bushland.

Likely change category: Minimal Change (driven by bushfire landscape 3a/3b/4 designation in the Kevin Hazell Bushfire Strategy; cost-of-services consideration).

Likely zone: NRZ Schedule for Bush Residential 1 (NRZ–BR1).

Likely schedule controls (illustrative):

• Maximum building height: 7m / 2 storeys (below NRZ default of 9m to maintain low-profile bushland character)
• Minimum lot size for subdivision: 800sqm (consistent with Buninyong NRZ2 precedent; allows protection of vegetation patches)
• Minimum garden area: 35% (above the standard 25–35% range to retain landscape character)
• Maximum site coverage: 40% (below GRZ default of ~60%)
• Maximum two dwellings per lot (subject to permit and BMO compliance)
• Mandatory canopy tree replacement where vegetation is removed
• BMO setback overlay typically required (50m from forest hazards)

Permit pathway impact: Single dwelling on lot ≥300sqm exempted by VC242/VC243 unless BMO applies. Schedule will need to specify BMO interaction (which automatically reinstates permit requirement). Two-dwelling-or-more requires permit assessable against schedule design objectives.

Capacity implication: Effectively constrains net additional dwelling potential in Bush Residential 1 areas to approximately one dwelling per existing lot. This is a capacity reduction relative to current GRZ1 controls (where 2–3 dwellings on a 1,000sqm lot are achievable). The Review trades off this reduction against bushfire risk reduction and landscape protection.

A2. Bush Residential 2

Character description (NCS): Mix of architectural styles from late Victorian to late 20th century; moderately sized lots with front and side setbacks ranging from typical to generous; views to surrounding creek corridors and bushland; predominantly informal landscaped gardens; informal street layout with mix of sealed and unsealed roads with no footpaths; flat to sloping topography (Source: neighbourhood-character-study.txt, lines 2588–2596).

Geographic application: Brown Hill (parts), Buninyong (informal-roaded portions), parts of Mount Helen and Mount Clear with creek-corridor relationships.

Likely change category: Minimal Change.

Likely zone: NRZ Schedule for Bush Residential 2 (NRZ–BR2), or LDRZ for the most rural-residential portions.

Likely schedule controls (illustrative):

• Maximum building height: 7m / 2 storeys
• Minimum lot size: 1,000–2,000sqm (recognising informal road servicing capacity)
• Mandatory waterway corridor setbacks
• Vegetation retention requirements
• No new sealed road construction triggers (preserving informal road character)

Permit pathway impact: Similar to BR1, with additional waterway and vegetation triggers.

Capacity implication: Net additional dwelling potential effectively eliminated. These are protected character areas, not capacity contributors.

A3. Garden Court 1

Character description (NCS): Predominantly Modern and Contemporary Style Dwellings; predominantly single storey; minimal front and site setbacks; low levels of establishing vegetation and formal planting styles; predominantly flat topography; absence of front fencing (Source: neighbourhood-character-study.txt, lines 2608–2615).

Geographic application: Post-1970s subdivisions in Wendouree, Sebastopol, Delacombe, Mount Clear, Mount Pleasant. Curvilinear street networks, modern dwelling stock, modest mature vegetation.

Likely change category: Incremental Change in most areas (good infrastr

Section clipped to keep the wiki page within the production size contract. Source files remain in the repository/extracted evidence corpus.

Appendix B: The six Substantial Change Area sites — detailed feasibility analysis

The Housing Strategy’s Substantial Change Areas combine six urban renewal sites with a combined notional yield of 8,643 dwellings (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt, Table 11). Each site requires the Residential Zones Review to provide an applicable zone palette, plus downstream structure planning for parcel-level zone application. Detailed analysis follows.

B1. Wendouree Station Precinct (62.6ha, 2,191 dwellings notional yield)

Current zoning: Industrial 1 Zone (IN1Z) and Industrial 3 Zone (IN3Z) (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt, lines 4248–4249).

Strategic identification: Identified in the current Ballarat Planning Scheme as Urban Renewal Area – Wendouree Village; Major Activity Centre; Bulky Goods Centre; regional transport gateway. Subject to the adopted Wendouree Railway Station Precinct Master Plan (Nov 2022) which is “not yet implemented in the planning scheme, and revision is advised to ensure proposed actions are in line with current planning policy and direction.” (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt, lines 4279–4286)

Assumed density: 2,191 dwellings / 62.6ha = 35 dwellings per gross hectare — consistent with the 35 dw/gross ha “based on the yield of similar developments” benchmark applied across all Urban Renewal Areas (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt, lines 3239–3247).

Notional yield reasoning: The Strategy describes 35 dw/gross ha as a “very conservative approach” with estimates “at the lower end of potential capacity.” The Strategy notes “early density estimates for Ballarat’s Urban Renewal Areas indicate there is significant potential capacity for these precincts to contribute to housing supply. Although it is not possible to give accurate yield estimates, to give an indication of potential capacity this strategy has applied a rate of between 35 dwellings per gross hectare.” (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt, lines 3242–3247) Actual yield will depend on the structure plan and zone palette the Review provides.

Constraints and challenges (per Strategy):

• “Existing long term ongoing industrial and commercial uses likely to present long term interfaces” (line 4259)
• “Noise from existing road and rail infrastructure” (line 4261)
• “Potential for existing contamination” (line 4262)
• EAO required to be applied to industrial and commercial zones within the urban renewal area per EPA / Ministerial Direction 1
• Multiple lots ranging in size with different uses (industrial, warehousing, key logistics, manufacturing, commercial, large format retail) — site assembly complexity (lines 4253–4257)

Opportunities (per Strategy):

• Underutilised sites with direct railway station access (Wendouree Railway Station — V/Line Ararat–Melbourne service)
• Some existing interfaces with existing residential land
• “Excellent accessibility to services and proximity to existing infrastructure” (lines 4263–4277)

Required zone palette (Residential Zones Review must provide):

• MUZ (Mixed Use Zone) for the central activity-centre-adjacent portions where ground-floor commercial and upper-level residential is the preferred form.
• RGZ Schedule (high-intensity) for the residential-dominant portions adjoining the rail corridor — likely 6–8 storey building height variation.
• IN1Z retained for the industrial-protected portions identified through structure planning.
• PPRZ / Public Use Zone for any public realm dedications.

Future Homes interaction: The 800m radius from Wendouree Railway Station captures the entire precinct. Any GRZ land within the 800m catchment may be eligible for Future Homes pre-approved 3-storey designs. The Review’s RGZ schedule for the precinct will need to provide superior design standards (or at least equivalent) to discourage Future Homes facilitated assessment overriding council-determined outcomes.

Cl 53.23 (significant residential with affordable housing) interaction: A development of 200+ dwellings with affordable housing offer could trigger Ministerial determination, bypassing council. The Review’s RGZ schedule must be drafted to integrate cleanly with such facilitated assessment.

Sequencing: The Wendouree Station Masterplan update was 49% complete as at 28 May 2025 (Source: 28-may-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt, lines 5547–5559). The Masterplan and the Review are likely to proceed in parallel. The Masterplan provides parcel-l

Section clipped to keep the wiki page within the production size contract. Source files remain in the repository/extracted evidence corpus.

Appendix C: Worked example — translating an established Wendouree lot through the Review

To illustrate the Review’s practical effect, this appendix traces a hypothetical 1,000sqm lot in Wendouree (away from the Substantial Change Areas, in an Incremental Change Area, currently zoned GRZ1) through the regulatory transformation the Review will effect.

C1. Pre-Review (current state, 2026)

Zoning: GRZ1. Schedule controls: Standard GRZ controls; no Ballarat-specific design objectives; no preferred neighbourhood character variations. Maximum building height: 11m / 3 storeys (default). Minimum lot size for subdivision: None specified in schedule (subject to Cl 32.08-3 garden area test). Minimum garden area: Per Cl 32.08-3 (35% for lots ≥650sqm). Permit triggers:

• Single dwelling on lot ≥300sqm: no permit required (since VC242/VC243).
• Two or more dwellings on lot: permit required, assessable against Cl 55.
• Subdivision: permit required, assessable against Cl 56. Permit pathway: Councillor delegation typically sufficient for ≤4 dwellings; Planning Delegated Committee for larger or contested. Character policy support: Cl 21.02 (Settlement and Housing) including Convenience Living Corridors policy where applicable. VCAT precedent: Creelman v Ballarat CC [2010] VCAT 994 (Member Carew — 4 single storey dwellings, 27 Park Street); Guest v Ballarat CC [2020] VCAT 3 (Member Birtwistle — supporting density on Convenience Living Corridor land); Askin v Monash CC [2009] VCAT 656 (Member Quirk — two-storey development is “a normal form of development within most suburbs today”) (Source: 8-june-2022-planning-delegated-committee-agenda-with-attachments_part1.txt, lines 320–428).

Likely development outcomes on this lot:

• 4–5 townhouse dwellings (consistent with the Park Street, Wendouree precedents — 17 Park Street 2022 5 townhouse approval; 27 Park Street 2010 4-dwelling VCAT-affirmed approval; 22 Park Street 2012 5-dwelling and 2015 4-dwelling approvals).
• Building height likely 7–9m / 2 storeys (consistent with surrounding character; well below the 11m default).
• Single car garage per dwelling plus tandem space.

C2. Post-C254ball gazettal (likely 2025–26), pre-Residential Zones Review amendment

Zoning: GRZ1 unchanged. Schedule controls: Unchanged. Character policy support: Modified.

• Convenience Living Corridors framework deleted from Cl 21.02-2 and Cl 21.08-1.
• New Cl 21.02 with Compact City framework, Substantial/Incremental/Minimal change areas inserted.
• New Housing Framework Plan inserted as Cl 21.02-1 reference.
• Background documents (Housing Strategy 2041; Growth Areas Framework Plan; Neighbourhood Character Study) inserted at Cl 72.08.

Likely development outcomes on this lot:

• Largely unchanged from C1 — still 4–5 townhouse capacity under GRZ1.
• VCAT decisions in the gap period must rely on the new Cl 21.02 Compact City and change-area policy text rather than the former Convenience Living Corridor designation.
• Guest v Ballarat CC and similar Convenience Living Corridor precedents lose their direct policy support, though their general reasoning about higher density in well-serviced areas may continue to apply through the new Incremental Change policy.

C3. Post-Residential Zones Review amendment (estimated 2027–28)

Zoning: GRZ–GC1 (Garden Court 1, hypothetical schedule). Schedule controls:

• Maximum building height: 9m / 2 storeys (per A3 illustrative analysis).
• Minimum subdivision area: 300sqm.
• Minimum garden area: 25%.
• Site coverage: 60%.
• Front setback calibrated to street rhythm.
• Design objective: “ensure new dwellings respond to the prevailing curvilinear street rhythm and contemporary built form.”

Permit triggers: Substantially unchanged (single dwelling exemption for ≥300sqm continues; two-or-more-dwellings still permit). Permit pathway: As before. Character policy support: New Cl 21.02 + the new schedule design objectives.

Likely development outcomes on this lot:

• 4–6 townhouse dwellings (slight uplift through 300sqm minimum subdivision threshold; existing GRZ1 implicit ~250sqm test may have constrained marginal lots).
• Building height likely capped at 9m / 2 storeys consistent with character.
• More design certainty for both applicants and council (schedule provides clear character objectives; less VCAT risk).
• Modest aggregate capacity uplift across hundreds of similar lots.

Section clipped to keep the wiki page within the production size contract. Source files remain in the repository/extracted evidence corpus.

Appendix D: Worked example — a Wendouree Station Precinct industrial lot

To contrast with the established residential lot example, a hypothetical 1ha industrial lot in the Wendouree Station Precinct (currently IN1Z, identified as Substantial Change Area) is traced.

D1. Pre-Review (current state)

Zoning: IN1Z. Permitted use: Industrial uses (manufacturing, warehousing, storage, distribution). Residential use: Prohibited. Permit pathway: Individual rezoning amendment required (Section 8A P&E Act). Development outcomes for residential: None possible without rezoning.

D2. Post-C254ball gazettal, pre-Residential Zones Review and pre-Wendouree Station Masterplan Update

Zoning: IN1Z unchanged. Strategic policy: The lot is now within a Substantial Change Area (per the new Cl 21.02 inserted by C254ball), but no statutory rezoning has occurred. Owners may now point to Substantial Change designation in support of any rezoning application but must still progress through full s8A amendment.

D3. Post-Wendouree Station Masterplan Update (estimated 2025–26)

Zoning: Probably still IN1Z if Masterplan does not include rezoning amendment. Strategic policy: Updated Masterplan provides parcel-level land use guidance; may identify the lot as residential-preferred, mixed-use-preferred, or industrial-retained.

D4. Post-Residential Zones Review (estimated 2027–28)

Zone palette available: The Review will have specified the zone schedules available for Substantial Change Area application (e.g., RGZ–WS for Wendouree Station; MUZ–WS).

D5. Post-implementation amendment for Wendouree Station Precinct (estimated 2028–29)

Zoning: Per the implementation amendment — likely RGZ–WS or MUZ–WS depending on the Masterplan parcel allocation. Permit pathway: Planning permit assessment under new schedule + possibly Cl 53.23 facilitated assessment if developer offers affordable housing component. Likely development outcomes:

• Apartment / townhouse development at 35–60 dw/gross ha (depending on schedule height controls).
• 4–8 storey building height (per RGZ–WS or MUZ–WS schedule).
• EAO clearance required for contamination assessment.

D6. Cumulative timeline

The full pathway from current IN1Z to a planning permit for residential apartments on this lot is approximately 4–5 years from the August 2024 Strategy adoption (i.e., ~2028–29 best case). This is the binding constraint on Wendouree Station Precinct’s 2,191-dwelling notional yield being realised — the Review and its dependent amendments must be sequenced through to enable any actual development.

Appendix E: Permit case patterns — what current GRZ1 and RGZ1 deliver (and their shortcomings)

The corpus contains numerous individual planning permit case files that illustrate how the current zone fabric operates in practice. These cases inform what the Review must address.

E1. The Park Street, Wendouree corridor — sustained townhouse intensification

Park Street, Wendouree (between Howitt Street and the railway corridor) has experienced sustained townhouse intensification over a 20+ year period. Documented permits and applications include:

• 22 Park Street, Wendouree — 2012: officer-delegated approval of 5 single-storey dwellings (2 × 1-bedroom, 3 × 2-bedroom; single car park each). 2015: secondary consent amendment to 4-dwelling development under Cl 87 secondary consent provisions (Source: 8-june-2022-planning-delegated-committee-agenda-with-attachments_part1.txt, lines 443–457).

• 27 Park Street, Wendouree — 2009 application PLP/2009/306 for 4 single-storey 2-bedroom dwellings; objector application to VCAT — Creelman v Ballarat CC [2010] VCAT 994, Member Carew, decision 6 May 2010 affirming the responsible authority’s decision and granting permit. Member Carew noted: “Park Street has seen significant unit development in recent years, driven in part by its proximity and access to the Stockland Shopping Centre. The residents are concerned that this development is an overdevelopment of the site and will contribute to the increasing change in character of the area.” (Source: lines 401–428)

• 17 Park Street, Wendouree — 2021 application PLP/2021/566 by Virtue Property Group for 5 two-storey townhouses on a 1,012sqm RGZ1 lot. Seven objections plus a petition signed by 67 parties. Considered by Planning Delegated Committee 13 April 2021, deferred 11 May 2022 to allow applicant to consider single-storey element, returned 8 June 2022 with applicant having declined to amend. Officer recommendation: Notice of Decision (Source: lines 80–230).

The Park Street pattern demonstrates that under existing RGZ1 (post-C177), the planning system delivers 4–5 townhouse intensification on lots in the 1,000–1,500sqm range, but with substantial community objection volume and VCAT pathway risk on each application. The Residential Zones Review’s task is to either (a) codify this outcome with character-specific design objectives that reduce contestation, or (b) further intensify (e.g., 6–8 dwelling apartment-form development on the same lots).

E2. The 108 Smythes Road, Delacombe case — Convenience Living Corridor reasoning

Guest v Ballarat CC [2020] VCAT 3, Member Birtwistle, 9 January 2020. The case involved a townhouse development on Smythes Road, Delacombe — land zoned GRZ identified as within a Convenience Living Corridor under former Cl 21.02-1.

Member Birtwistle’s reasoning: “The review site is identified as being within a ‘convenience living’ corridor. As such, it is within an area in which the municipal Council has decided must deliver more intense housing to meet expected need for new housing. … In support of this, the review site and surrounding land is zoned GRZ. Council has not chosen to apply a different residential zone, such as the Low Density Residential Zone which has larger minimum lot sizes. So, despite the historically larger than standard lot sizes in the immediate area, the policy and zoning context identify a preferred character of higher density development and smaller lot sizes to provide for housing growth and diversity.” (Source: 8-june-2022-planning-delegated-committee-agenda-with-attachments_part1.txt, lines 322–342)

The case is significant because it demonstrates VCAT explicitly linking the Convenience Living Corridor policy designation to GRZ schedule controls in supporting density. With Convenience Living Corridors deleted by C254ball, this reasoning loses its direct foundation. The Review must replace it with equivalent reasoning capability — most likely through the Substantial / Incremental Change designations and corresponding RGZ / GRZ schedules.

E3. The Askin v Monash CC reasoning — two-storey is normal

Although a Monash decision, Member Quirk’s reasoning in Askin v Monash CC [2009] VCAT 656 (17 April 2009) is regularly cited in Ballarat permit reports: “I will not give any weight to a single storey character as it is clearly known by this and other responsible authorities that two storey development is a normal form of development within most suburbs today. That is a change that has been occurring for years and has been consistent with the provisions of not only Rescode but the Good Design Guide and Rescode 2 before it.” (Source: 8-june-2022-planning-delegated-committee-agenda-with-attachments_part1.txt, lines 379–391)

This precedent supports two-storey development as the baseline expectation across all GRZ areas. The Review’s NRZ schedules in Minimal Change Areas will need to be specifically calibrated to constrain this default — for example, by setting maximum height at 7m (sub-two-storey) in Bush Residential schedules.

Appendix F: The C190 Buninyong NRZ2 — the only existing Ballarat NRZ template

The only existing Ballarat-specific Neighbourhood Residential Zone schedule with substantive local variations is NRZ2, introduced by Amendment C190, gazetted 20 November 2014.

C190 application area: Land in the Buninyong Township south of Learmonth Street, east of Inglis Street and adjacent to and west of Winter Street (Source: part_4.txt, lines 10142–10153).

C190 schedule controls:

• Permit requirement to construct or extend a dwelling on a lot of less than 800 square metres.
• Site coverage requirements.
• Permeability requirements.
• Set back requirements.
• Maximum of one dwelling on a lot.

Significance: C190 is the only example in the Ballarat scheme of a residential zone schedule with substantive Ballarat-specific dimensional controls calibrated to local character. It pre-dates the Housing Strategy and Neighbourhood Character Study by 10 years. The Review’s NRZ schedules will likely build on this template.

The 800sqm lot threshold in NRZ2 is significant because:

• It is well above the 300sqm threshold below which VC242/VC243 reinstates permit requirements for single dwellings.
• It captures a substantial proportion of Buninyong’s existing lot stock (most established Buninyong lots are 600–1,200sqm).
• It implies a Buninyong-specific calibration that other character-similar areas (e.g., Mount Helen, Mount Clear) may need.

The “maximum of one dwelling on a lot” provision in NRZ2 is critical — it overrides the GRZ default that allows two-or-more-dwellings subject to permit. This is the operative mechanism by which Minimal Change Areas can resist intensification.

Appendix G: The Small Lot Housing Code (Nov 2024) — interaction with the Review

The VPA’s Small Lot Housing Code, November 2024 version, provides standard Type A and Type B controls for lots typically <300sqm in PSP areas where the Code is incorporated via the Small Lot Housing Code Schedule (Source: vpa-victorian-planning-authority-small-lot-housing-code-november-2024.txt). The Code applies to PSP-zoned land (predominantly UGZ in growth areas) and is currently relevant to:

• ballarat-west-psp (8,800 lots) — likely SLHC application via the relevant schedule
• alfredton-west-psp (800 lots)
• ballarat-north-psp (in preparation per C256ball)
• Future Western and North-Western Growth Area PSPs

The Code is not directly applicable to established residential land (the subject of the Residential Zones Review). However, the Review may consider whether to adopt an analogous code-based approach for small lots in established Substantial Change Areas — particularly the urban renewal precincts (Wendouree Station, Latrobe Street) where small-lot subdivision will be the dominant form.

The advantage of adopting an SLHC-like approach in established Substantial Change Areas would be:

• Pre-vetted design standards reducing per-application assessment
• Faster permit pathways for compliant designs
• Consistency with growth-area subdivision standards

The disadvantage would be:

• Less character-specific calibration
• Potential clash with Heritage Overlay controls in heritage-affected Substantial Change Areas (Skipton, Lal Lal, Wendouree Station fringe)
• Reduced council discretion

The Review will likely propose a hybrid — RGZ schedules with character-specific design objectives for the bulk of Substantial Change Area land, plus optional SLHC-aligned standards for small-lot subdivision components within those areas.

Size Contract Note

This page was compacted for UI and Obsidian readability. The underlying source documents and extracted text remain in the evidence corpus.