Project updates

2021 Community consultation

What would you like to do at 7 Well Street?

Right now, 7 Well Street in Brighton is a vacant Council-owned 700 square metre site just a short stroll from the Church Street shopping precinct.

As for what it could be in the future… that’s what we want to hear from you.

This is an opportunity to share your ideas on how this rare vacant lot in the heart of Brighton could be transformed into a something that could benefit the local community and the many visitors who go to Church Street to shop, dine and socialise.

The project will tie in with Bayside’s 2050 Community Vision to ensure the project reflects the priorities and aspirations for Bayside in the future.

What will its future be?

We're inviting local residents and businesses, and visitors to the area to help shape Council’s next steps on the future of 7 Well Street.

Community feedback will help us understand how best to activate this space – whether that’s new public open space, more car parking spaces or other needed community infrastructure.

This is also an opportunity to highlight any issues to ensure we can consider any challenges before we progress the project.

Next steps

Ideas we collect from the community will be used along with technical advice on the suitability of site for the proposal that is presented to Councillors. Council will make an informed decision on the next steps in December 2021.

Read more about how we conducted engagement for the project here.

The residence at 7 Well Street was purchased by Council in 2005 with the intention to provide additional car parking in the Church Street activity centre.

To facilitate this process, we commenced a planning scheme amendment C165 in 2019 to rezone the site from a General Residential Zone to a Public Use Zone. If the amendment was adopted, it would have enabled an extension of car park at 5 Wells Street and provide an additional 28 parking spots for the area.

A total of 20 submissions were received to the amendment and an independent Planning Panel was appointed to consider the submissions, ultimately recommending that the amendment be abandoned.

This rezoning process was also unsupported by the Minister for Planning. At this stage, the planning scheme amendment was not linked to a Council policy or strategy document that supported the site being transitioned to a car park.

The site is constrained by its location and size. The lot is 700 square metres and is located within General Residential Zone Schedule 2 (GRZ2) in the Church Street activity centre. Currently a vacant site; it previously accommodated a residential dwelling (owned by Council) which was demolished.

At this stage we are open to all ideas on how the site can be best utilised, we have included a few suggestions in the survey such as transitioning the site to public open space, affordable housing, a community building or car parking.

There is two nearby public open space areas in the Church Street activity centre, located at Chavasse Street Reserve 350m away. The reserve at Chavasse Street (near the bus stop) is 412 square metres and Burrows Street Reserve is 3,000 square metres. The foreshore is also in walking distance.

Below is map that shows surrounding land uses and existing car parking lot locations in a short radius from the Church Street Activity Centre.

As part of this process, Council will also complete a study on the opportunities and constraints at the site for public open space. This study will consider relevant Council strategic directions including:

A report summarising community feedback will be presented to Council at its December 2021 meeting.

You can read more about this decision making process in the engagement plan tab.