Residents living near the proposed social housing development on the site of the old North Bendigo Primary School say the state government's fast-tracked planning process is allowing insufficient scrutiny.
Djaara, the trading name for the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, is proposing 34 one- and two-storey houses for about 75 people on Nolan Street. The Victorian government awarded Djaara $21.6 million for the project in December last year.
Neighbouring resident Ben Pengilley said he recognised that social housing is needed in Victoria but raised multiple concerns. "The opportunities to object to poor planning should be there, and the reality is we've got a planning document that is going to greatly affect hundreds of residents here in North Bendigo," he said.
Among the concerns is that the land, owned by the Department of Education and Training, had been repurposed for social housing without consultation, going against a Victorian government-backed 2019 public space plan that slated the site as parkland. "That's not transparent. That's changing the rules," Mr Pengilley said.
Another resident, Michael Jurca, said Barney Street was already full of Bendigo Health workers needing all-day parking and did not have space for more vehicles. "If you have visitors or services we already have to move the car three or four streets away," he said.
The proposal is expected to go before Planning Minister Sonja Kilkenny as part of the Development Facilitation Program, which fast-tracks priority projects such as housing and renewable energy developments. The program has taken planning powers away from local councils and strips residents of the right to object at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Djaara's Transport Impact Assessment, submitted to the Victorian government, shows its consultants used a New South Wales report to illustrate assumptions of vehicle movements by each house each day. Mr Pengilley called that another example of lazy planning.
"That is just ticking a box, making sure they meet some sort of requirement," he said.