Debate Rages as Nightingale Greenlit for Car-Free Community

Nightingale Housing’s second project at Coburg in Melbourne’s north will go ahead with 72 townhouses and just 10 car parks. After a hotly contested debate in the City of Merri-bek Council this week the decision was made to approve the car-share townhouse development despite signficant objection. Nightingale founder Jeremy McLeod told the council that it would cost $65,000 per car parking bay to build more bays, which would mean reducing the number of affordable homes in the project from nine to four to make the project financially feasible. “The cost of construction, our development managers tell us, is up 42 per cent since 2019, the cost of capital and interest is up, the cost of land is up,” McLeod said. “Sheppard Street cost us $13 million—that was $1200 a square metre.” “If we bought it in Brunswick because it was closer to other things, it would have cost us $4200 per square metre.” Nightingale proposal was for a two-storey project, dubbed Nightingale Sheppard, for 16-20 Sheppard Street at Coburg North, 9km north of the Melbourne CBD by road. It comprises 72 townhouses of one to three bedrooms on a 10,000sq m site currently occupied by a foundry, and bordered by Hoskins Reserve to the west. Breathe Architecture designed the plans, which included a request to reduce the parking requirements in favour of a car-share model. Nightingale’s plans were for just 10 spaces: five car-share bays, two loading bays, two visitor bays and one accessible parking bay. The not-for-profit developer has a history of developing car-share and car-free affordable housing projects, and informs all future residents that there will be no car parking access within the projects. ▲ Breathe Architecture and Nightingale Housing founder Jeremy McLeod. Photo: Kate Longley The City of Merri-bek Council subscribed to the Plan Melbourne 2017-2050’s concept of 20-minute neighbourhoods that includes public transport being within an 800m or 10-minute walk of a project. The Nightingale Sheppard site is 520m by foot from Merlynston Railway Station, an 800m walk from the Route 19 tramline, and within 570m of several bus routes. It is also close to several bicycle routes. The Coburg development will include 217 bicycle storage spaces. Two amendments were made to the application before to the council meeting. The Green Travel Plan was changed to increase a car ownership levy to $11,000 during the second year of residency, and Nightingale also agreed to increase a payment to council for the Car Parking Survey to support any future on-street parking infrastructure and investigation needed. Before the Planning and Related Matters Committee meeting earlier this week, former Merri-bek mayor Samantha Ratnam said online she had concern that car parking objections would block the project. “It uses a car-share model to reduce car dependence … it is close to trains and trams with a full green travel plan,” Ratnam, who is the Greens candidate for Wills, said. “A permit with conditions to add more car parking will make the project unviable and will effectively kill it off.” The Urban Developer sought comment from Ratnam for this article. ▲ Nightingale’s Coburg debut, Nightingale Umarkoo Wayi, is due to complete about the middle of this year. The council heard from councillors and the public in relation to the car parking reduction at the meeting. Planning officers reiterated that any projects deemed to follow the development guidelines set out in the S heppard and Norris Street Incorporated Plan 2021 would be exempted from the need to publicly exhibit the plans. Community objectors said Coburg North did not have the same infrastructure to adopt cycling and car-free projects in the way that Brunswick could. Cr Liz Irwin said that there were more than 8000 car-free households in the City of Merri-bek and that planning regulations were being changed. “The state government is in the process of updating its car parking and bicycle parking requirements so by the time that reform is actually delivered, this kind of conversation will almost be obsolete because they will remove car parking minimums and those requirements in the planning scheme,” Irwin said. “We need to be thinking as if we are six months or year in the future and look at the other provision that has been made for sustainable transport at this site.” Cr Sue Bolton proposed adding a separate car park building to the project to resolve the issue. “I’m conscious that by just using car parking restrictions that you don’t actually reduce overall car use, you just shift it to another area,” Bolton said. ▲ Nightingale's first project in Brunswick, Nightingale Village, completed in June of 2022. Cr Jay Iwasaki said population forecasts pointed to 40,000 more residents in Merri-bek during the next 10 years. Iwasaki said that without a stronger push towards active and public transport the streets would be gridlocked by 2035. The project was approved. Mayor Helen Davidson and Deputy Mayor Councillor Helen Politis voted against it. Nightingale has two projects under construction, including its Coburg debut, Nightingale Umarkoo Wayi, and “many more in planning and early stages”, the developer said. You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

Debate Rages as Nightingale Greenlit for Car-Free Community

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