Calvary Health Care is facing resistance to its proposed 19-storey independent living community in south east Melbourne.
The development would see a $73m precinct including a retirement village, aged care home and childcare centre replace the existing low-rise Calvary Health Care Bethlehem hospital.
It would include 85 two and three-bedroom independent units with shared gym, art room and library, as well as a hospital specialising in palliative care and neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s.
Those needing more living assistance could relocate into the aged care home with 80 beds.
The aim of the development is to enable people to remain in their homes for longer and for couples to remain together, said Calvary Health Care’s national development manager Angus Bradley.
“What is really important to us is that we are catering for the needs of the people of Glen Eira and surrounds for the medium and long term … so they don’t have to leave the place they may have lived in for 15 to 20 years,” Mr Bradley told The Age.
However, local residents are putting up a fight because the proposed redevelopment would exceed an eight-metre height limit that applies to residential developments in the area.
A loophole in the current planning laws mean the limit does not apply to non residential buildings, including independent living units and retirement villages.
Glen Eira councillors will vote on the proposal next week.
