DOWNSIZING

Torquay town centre proposal to be capped at four storeys

THE vision for the future of central Torquay has been scaled down, with public feedback spurring a number of changes to the proposals.

The Surf Coast Shire put three draft documents about the Torquay Town Centre Project on public exhibition in late August, and councillors considered a report on the submissions about the documents at their meeting on Tuesday.

There has been strong public objection to the prospect of five-storey buildings in certain parts of the town centre, and following further investigation, officers recommended that a maximum of four storeys (13.5 metres) be introduced instead.

The report notes that “the amount of additional commercial floor space required to grow the town centre is perhaps not as great as envisaged” in the draft documents, and “permitting heights beyond a certain number of storeys would appear to facilitate more residential development rather than commercial floor space”.

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