The removal of expensive and unnecessary car parking mandates will let people rather than planners make choices about paying for car parks. These reforms will not only save up to $70,000 per dwelling but will also significantly lower carbon emissions by reducing the excavation required for basement-level parking.
YIMBY Melbourne encourages the Government to take these reforms further, and abolish car parking minimums across the board, empowering Victorians to make their own decisions about whether or not to pay for parking.
Standardised infrastructure contributions will help create certainty both for the homebuilding sector and for local government. Levelling the playing field across the entire state creates a strong basis for homes to be built everywhere—especially in the places where people most want to live.
YIMBY Melbourne encourages the Government to monitor real infrastructure and project delivery costs, and to ensure that new homes are not forced to pay more than their fair share of upgrades that serve both new and existing residents.
Where infrastructure upgrades benefit incumbent residents equally to new residents, funding should be delivered through broad-based rates and land taxes.
For too long, planning has been slow and static. The Department’s willingness to move fast, and to plan at the speed of cities, should be celebrated.
Continuous improvement is at the heart of the modern world’s most successful systems. A system that moves fast, says yes, and works to solve the housing crisis is a better system than we’ve ever had before.
Passing the Planning Amendment Bill is the next and most vital step yet in creating this better system.
“Mandating expensive empty basements has been one of the biggest unforced errors in Victorian planning policy. Abolishing car parking minimums is a win-win that will lower carbon emissions and shave up to $70,000 off the cost of a new home.”
“Standardised infrastructure contributions create a level playing field, and ensure that homes can be built in the places where people most want to live.”
“The government must resist the urge to overcomplicate parking reform. Replacing minimums with complex maximums just swaps one restriction for another—we need to simply abolish the mandates and let the market decide how much parking is actually needed.”
