Page 655 - Week 02 - Thursday, 6 March 2008
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plan, subject to being consistent with the structure plans. Giving statutory force to the precinct codes for concept plans in the new system will add consistency and transparency to the greenfield developments.
On 14 February this year, I introduced the Planning and Development Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 into the Assembly. The changes introduced in the bill aim to make the Planning and Development Act consistent with the ACT government’s affordable housing action plan. The relevant changes to the act enable over-the-counter sales of leases for single dwellings. This reduces the necessity for lengthy land release processes and lease and development conditions being prepared before land sales.
Recognising the long lead time for estate planning, the bill introduced transitional arrangements for development applications made prior to the commencement of the act. ACTPLA may apply lease and development conditions to the development applications that were lodged before the commencement date, which relates to defined land and proposals including subdivision of such land. This transitional provision will expire after five years.
The policies and controls from the existing territory plan have been translated as much as possible without changing the policy intent. There are, however, areas where I have determined that a change to the existing planning controls is appropriate as a result of recent planning studies and consultation. The first of these changes relates to the Braddon commercial precinct. As part of an earlier neighbourhood planning process for Braddon, extensive community consultation was undertaken and a final neighbourhood plan was released in 2003, which identified the future direction for Braddon.
The Canberra spatial plan identified residential intensification within a 7½-kilometre radius of the city centre as a long-term planning strategy to manage urban growth. As Braddon falls within this radius, there is great potential for redevelopment of the Braddon commercial precinct. As part of the planning studies carried out for Braddon, the social impact assessment completed in 2005 identified significant safety and amenity issues, caused mainly by through traffic and lack of active frontages after hours.
The city area infrastructure capacity and catchment study for Braddon, completed in 2006, recognised that the stormwater network capacity is adequate to cater for existing and future redevelopments. Current high-density developments in the city, three-storey apartments along Torrens Street and the taller buildings along Northbourne Avenue have triggered interest amongst the industry and community.
As a result of several background studies and extensive consultation with the community during these studies, ACTPLA undertook a planning study on the Braddon commercial precinct. I released a draft planning study for public consultation in November 2007. The planning study recommended that allowing a general four to six-storey limit will provide the opportunity for commercial developments in the first two storeys and residential in the top two storeys. This also provides an opportunity for redevelopment of the Braddon rugby league club and a better transition from high-
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