'There's not much land left': Nine-lot subdivision approved at Maldon

Councillors voted to approve the subdivision at 30 Lowther Street at their meeting on Tuesday, March 19, which had six objections and a "hefty amount" of conditions.

The nine block sizes were all about 1000 square metres and would be connected by one access point from Lowther Street with a shared road created.

Cr Stephen Gardiner said the subdivision would not result in an overdevelopment of the site.

"Under the state government planning scheme, blocks can be subdivided in a residential zone to 300 square meters, so these are obviously larger than that," he said.

Cr Gardiner said he believed "this sort of stuff" would start to happen more in Maldon as the historic town grew.

"There's not much land left to be subdividing, but I'm assuming that where there is, it will happen now for my community," he said.

"People may like it or may not, that's a factor of life.

"Maldon is a small town, we're currently obviously experiencing quite a bit of downturn in terms of trade and shops, so more houses [means] there's opportunity for local people to live."

Cr Christine Henderson agreed with Cr Gardiner.

"Development will provide additional housing supply in a time when we desperately need more houses," she said.

"Appropriate onsite amenity and avoidance detrimental impacts nearby dwellings is achieved by the proposed design and layout."

Cr Tony Cordy said he had concerns with the development, including its proximity to the Maldon Golf Club, traffic and the design of the houses.

"If there are golf balls flying around, there's going to be a collision point," he said.

"[The land] hasn't had dwellings there and part of the reason for that is because of it's proximity to the golf club."

Cr Cordy said vehicle movements from the house would compromise heavy vehicle access on Lowther Street.

Cr Gardiner said there was at least one house abutting the golf course where people had lived "for a very long time" that had not been impacted.

Designs for houses would need to go through more permit applications due to a significant landscape overlay on the site.

"This is not the end of the planning process," Cr Christine Henderson said.

"Future dwellings proposed on lots of creation will trigger a planning permit under the significant landscape overlay.

"This will create the opportunity to encourage development of a type which does not detract from the value of the landscape due to its sighting, light or general appearance."

The median house price in Maldon was just more than $720,000 according to view.com.au.

More than 60 per cent of people were aged more than 50 years old and many households were empty nesters.

Conditions on the subdivision included an offset for the removal of 340 square metres of vegetation as well as agreements with Coliban Water, Goulburn Murray Water and Powercor Australia.