‘Big decision to be made’: Piedimonte’s plan dashed by council, sale on the cards

1 week ago 4

Fitzroy North’s iconic Piedimonte’s grocer could be sold to a major supermarket chain after the council voted against the sale of a public laneway, which the Piedimonte family says was crucial to their redevelopment plans.

Six of seven present Yarra City councillors voted against council officer recommendations to sell a bluestone laneway behind the beloved independent supermarket. The sale was supposed to pave the way for the demolition of the site and a rebuild of a new supermarket with residential apartments on top.

The beloved Piedimonte’s Supermarket in Fitzroy North.

Although the mooted multi-storey redevelopment already received planning permission at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) four years ago, the plan was contingent on the sale of a rear laneway from the Yarra council to proceed.

Sam Piedimonte told The Age on Wednesday morning that the Tuesday night vote was “very disappointing” after a seven-year ordeal. “Again, the minority wins.”

The Piedimonte family, which has run the supermarket for decades in one of Melbourne’s trendiest areas, would meet on Wednesday to decide a path forward, Sam said.

“A big decision has to be made,” he said. He said the family would have to weigh up options for challenging the decision, but also said that selling the site to a major supermarket chain was a live option.

“My heart and my family’s heart has been in North Fitzroy for 65 years,” he said. “All the little independent shops nearby depend on us.”

The council held a public consultation period on the proposed sale earlier this year; more than 400 locals made submissions, the vast majority against the sale.

The redevelopment plan includes a new supermarket, 66 apartments, a cafe, roof terrace, and three levels of underground parking. Piedimonte Developments agreed to pay market value for the 75-square-metre laneway segment, as well as hand over 122 square metres to the council in exchange.

Opponents, led by the group Protect Fitzroy North, argued the sale of the laneway would set a negative precedent for using public land for private development.

Anne Coveny (front), secretary of Protect Fitzroy North, with locals who oppose the sale of a bluestone laneway to make way for the Piedimonte’s Supermarket redevelopment.

Previously, the group told The Age that the developer’s alternative traffic plan would funnel vehicles down a narrower one-way residential street, a change they believed would harm the neighbourhood’s “livability and charm”. The group has been contacted for comment.

An independent traffic assessment, commissioned by the council, found that the existing laneway had “low” vehicular use, with only six to 16 vehicles using the northern end per day.

The assessment concluded that redirecting this small amount of traffic would be “negligible and unnoticeable” in operation on the surrounding streets. It also highlighted that the current supermarket’s loading activities block the laneway for two to five hours per weekday.

The new development would resolve this issue by containing all loading on-site in a basement and a dedicated ground-floor loading zone.

A rendering of the plans to redevelop Piedimonte's Supermarket, off St Georges Road, dated 2019.

But at Tuesday night’s meeting, councillor Kenneth Gomez proposed a motion to knock back the sale on the basis that the community uses the laneway. He said that it continues to be needed for public use and that “it is undesirable for the road (being a bluestone laneway) to be removed, having regard to its historic relevance in the area”.

Independent Mayor Stephen Jolly and independent councillors Gomez, Andrew Davies, Meca Ho, Angeline Aston and Sharon Harrison voted to kill the sale.

“Road discontinuations … are normally super non-controversial because the laneways discontinued and sold are actually dead space,” said Jolly.

“Some of them are actually dead ends. This one is different. It’s an active laneway, and it’s the first time, in my experience, we’ve considered selling an active laneway.”

Greens councillor Sophie Wade was the only dissenting vote, saying she represented the 10 per cent of public submissions who were supportive of the sale.

“Reasonable minds may differ on these things,” she said. “I’m not saying this situation is perfect or my preferred scenario, but it is a bit different [than a regular land sale]. [The public land] is not just gobbled up. It is redirected.”