Page 3573 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 2005
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Territory plan—variation No 205
Papers and statement by minister
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Minister for Health and Minister for Planning, and Acting Minister for Children, Youth and Family Support, Acting Minister for Women and Acting Minister for Industrial Relations): For the information of members, I present the following paper:
Land (Planning and Environment) Act, pursuant to subsection 29 (1)—Approval of Variation No 205 to the Territory Plan—Oasis Leisure Centre Deakin—Block 11 Section 68 Deakin, dated 21 September 2005, together with background papers, a copy of the summaries and reports, and a copy of any direction or report required.
I ask leave to make a statement in relation to the papers.
Leave granted.
MR CORBELL: Draft variation 205 proposes to change the land use policy for the Oasis Leisure Centre site in Deakin to commercial B2E, corridors and office sites. During public consultation, one submission was received which raised opposition to the proposed condition that leases for other units cannot be changed to include office use until unit 17 is refurbished. The submission also raised concern that there was no justification for vacant medical suites to remain vacant until the pool is refurbished and that the smaller units would have very little impact on the dynamics of the total use of the site.
The Standing Committee on Planning and Environment, in its report on the draft variation, made four recommendations. The first was that the authority develop a master plan for the west Deakin area to address traffic, parking, public transport, environmental and retail facility issues. The committee recommended that, if resources are not available in the 2005-06 budget to prepare a master plan, the issues be addressed in either a revised draft variation 205 or a new draft variation. In response to this recommendation, variation 205 has been revised, as detailed in Annexure A to the approval instrument.
Secondly, the committee recommended that the authority amend the variation to enable the office development to be built before the pool at the Oasis centre is refurbished, on condition that the pool is upgraded under a performance bond. The government does not support this recommendation. The original proposal for the draft variation put forward by the proponents was to add “office use” to the existing uses of entertainment, accommodation and leisure. The financial difficulties in meeting the conditions of the proposed variation were first raised by the proponents with the planning and environment committee, but this was not what the proponents initially raised with the authority when they sought the variation. It is also contrary to what the proponents arranged with the authority during the planning study stages.
I believe, and the government believes, it is important that the proponents address the issue of refurbishment of the pool, which is in extremely poor condition, prior to the development of the office building. The swimming clubs that use the pool are anxious to see the future of the pool addressed before any office building or development occurs. The insertion of such a requirement into the territory plan variation will ensure that this
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