DEVELOPERS have unveiled their vision for sweeping changes in East Bendigo.
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It comes as they ask the City of Greater Bendigo to sign off on subdivisions and construction works for the first 29 houses at a development called "Lansell Crest", at 39-51 Lansell Street.
The homes would rise between the East Bendigo Bowls Club and a VicRoads property.
The Birchgrove Property Group will need separate planning permits for more than 80 other homes earmarked to rise at the 2.6 hectare site at a later date.
The latest permit applications are the culmination of significant architectural work, according to Curry & Brown associate Gerard Gilfedder.
His firm is playing a prominent role in the push.
"The scale, materials and building forms are designed to provide a diverse yet coherent neighbourhood of homes," Mr Gilfedder said.
The idea is to create something that resonated with the area's landscape and contributed to the surrounding neighbourhood, he said.
The latest permit bid marks a new stage in what has been decades of painstaking planning scheme amendments and consultations over the former industrial land.
Controversy peaked in 2017 when more than 100 nearby residents opposed the council removing a cap on the number of homes allowed at the site.
Many were worried about lot sizes, house density and traffic within a development some had depicted as Bendigo's first large scale medium density development.
An independent panel declared in November 2017 that the proposal would be positive.
"There are no traffic, parking, infrastructure, servicing or design reasons why the development plan should not proceed," it found.
Victoria's planning minister signed off on that particular planning scheme change in 2018.
VicRoads once used the site as a depot, while industrialists used it to build components for bridges.
Before that, an abattoir operated there.
Lansell Crest's developers want to add interpretive signs throughout the development and feature the abattoir's foundation stone in one of two spaces they have earmarked as parkland, among other heritage considerations.
Mr Gilfedder said ideas that reflected the area's history were vital.
"It is key design elements such as these which will ensure that Lansell Crest contributes to the aspiration of Bendigo becoming Australia's most liveable regional city," he said.
The council is considering a series of planning permits and intends to make a decision at a later date.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
