Speaking after a workshop examining Lavington’s CBD Masterplan Paul Frauenfelder said the plan to encourage redevelopment of the suburb’s retail core and increase building height limits was a positive step.

Under the plan a five-storey building height would be allowed at the majority of sites immediately surrounding the Five Ways intersection.

Buildings of up to seven storeys will be permitted at a handful of key locations and up to 12 storeys at one Griffith Road position opposite where a town square is proposed.

“At the moment if you look over at Lavington you don’t see where it is,” Mr Frauenfelder said.

“It will give it a presence, a feel and it will attract people more.

“It’s going to identify it as an area to come to.”

Mr Frauenfelder is a Thurgoona resident and also vice-president of the suburb’s progress association.

He said he also attended the community workshop to take ideas back to Thurgoona.

“I wanted to see what we need to start thinking about for the future of Thurgoona because it’s the growth corridor,” Mr Frauenfelder said.

Lavington resident Jeanette Fealy said she would make a submission to the council and wanted to make sure elderly people were catered for in the CBD.

“In summer I find it very hot and not very user friendly to the elderly,” she said.

Mrs Fealy said she wanted to see a lot of greenery in the CBD, including more trees and seating, set back from the road, in the shade.

She said the plan for a town square and green belt near the library in Griffith Road went some of the way to address her concerns.

Mrs Fealy said she was also concerned about the safety of elderly people crossing busy Breen Street and a crossing was needed.

Lavington’s draft plan also includes a plan to make Griffith Road one-way, from north to south, to streamline traffic.

Kerbs and median strips at the Five Ways intersection would also be widened to make the roads easier for pedestrians to cross, but the configuration of the juncture will not change to prevent pushing traffic into residential streets.

Submissions on the draft masterplan close on July 24, before the plan is updated and presented to the council next month.