Fusion has formally lodged a submission regarding the proposed rezoning and redevelopment of 235–239 Separation Street, Northcote. While we strongly support the principle of transitioning underutilised industrial zones into high-density housing, the current framework allows private developers to capture massive windfalls while delivering minimal public infrastructure.
Our Position on C234dare:
Rezoning this Industrial 3 site to Mixed Use for a 256-dwelling, 8-storey development is a genuinely positive step for urban renewal in Northcote. The principle is right. The problem is in the detail. Specifically that the current proposal captures most of the public benefit of this rezoning for private gain, while asking very little in return.
1. Affordable Housing
The amendment proposes eight dwellings (3% of the total) be gifted to a registered housing provider. For a rezoning of this scale, where the land value uplift is immediate and substantial, that is a poor return for the community. The current Development Facilitation Program mechanics allow developers to clear significant margins while contributing a token amount of actual affordable stock. This is not a genuine community benefit.
The Fusion Alternative: The state should mandate a 10% inclusionary zoning baseline for all multi-unit residential developments within transit catchments. To make this commercially viable and avoid developer workarounds, that mandate should be paired with automatic, non-appealable height and density bonuses of up to 50%. The density upside funds the affordable housing obligation cleanly, without token cash-outs or protracted negotiation.
2. Permanent Ground-Floor Commercial Space
The proposal includes 351 square metres of ground-floor retail space, which is the right instinct. Active street frontages reduce car dependency, support local economies, and prevent the development from becoming an isolated residential block. The risk is that without structural protections, ground-floor commercial space has a habit of being converted, left vacant, or quietly repurposed once approvals are secured. A small retail footprint that exists only on paper at planning stage is not precinct integration.
The Fusion Alternative: Planning approval should permanently preserve ground-floor spaces for micro-commercial or community infrastructure use. The goal is a corridor that people actually walk along.
3. On-Site Tree Canopy Protection
This development requires the removal of 27 canopy trees. Urban density involves trade-offs, and we are not opposed to that in principle. But replacing established canopy with standard compliance offsets degrades local cooling capacity and urban amenity in ways that are difficult to recover.
The Fusion Alternative: The permit should condition approval on an on-site green infrastructure plan: Vertical greening, quality public open space within the 24/7 pedestrian link, and mature tree replacement along the Separation Street boundary. The environmental baseline should be maintained, not offset away.