Page 656 - Week 02 - Thursday, 6 March 2008
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density development of the city centre, Braddon commercial precinct and the residential precincts. The new territory plan gives an opportunity to enhance and retain the character of an area by increasing the height limit. (Extension of time granted.)
The second policy change is related to those locations currently identified as A10 residential core areas, referred to as the garden city provisions in the existing plan. The garden city provisions were introduced to provide opportunities for more housing close to the facilities and services contained in the commercial centres. At the same time, it aimed to better control ad hoc redevelopment in the suburban areas. A technical evaluation of the provisions commenced in late 2005 and a discussion paper was prepared. Various consultations with industry, community groups and professional bodies were undertaken on the discussion paper prior to it being released for public comment in March 2007. Seventeen submissions were received and taken into account in the preparation of the evaluation of the garden city provisions.
The evaluation process identified that the garden city provisions were achieving their intent to generally protect the suburbs from residential redevelopment and moderate intensification, by focusing such development on residential core areas. The garden city provisions have been translated into the RZ2—suburban core zone—in the new plan. Following the discussion paper, ACTPLA released a fact sheet detailing four proposed refinements to the new territory plan, and that was released for public comment in November last year.
To ensure appropriate residential amenity is maintained in the residential suburban core area RZ2, as well as limiting the number of dwellings on a standard block, the RZ2 development code includes requirements to ensure that development addresses the street and the existing neighbourhood characteristics in scale, form and site coverage.
There is another policy issue that has been raised over the years and was raised again during the territory plan consultation by community and industry, and this relates to height restrictions within the Gungahlin town centre. The current restrictions reflect the existing controls for the commercial zones, which are a minimum of two storeys and a maximum of four storeys for the CZ1 core zone and the CZ2 business zone. It is one of the primary functions of the business zones to provide for office developments in the town centre areas. Master plans have been carried out for town centres in Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Woden and identified no height restrictions in Belconnen, a four-storey maximum height in Tuggeranong and a variable height restriction for limited parts of the CZ2 zone in Woden.
The new plan has increased the amount of business zone provided for in the Gungahlin town centre area. This has been recommended by previous studies and was supported by the independent assessor. The current restriction on building height is seen as a barrier to securing government offices for the Gungahlin town centre area. While the height restrictions for the CZ2 business zone in Gungahlin town centre have been removed, the criteria relating to scale, function and compatibility with adjacent developments will remain. The proposed planning studies that are currently being undertaken for the Gungahlin town centre will inform the planning outcomes for
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