Page 2603 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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its management responsibility. The working group is exploring means by which a developer might be able to bond the cost of establishing the garden which could be released to a community group when it has been formed and obtained a licence to operate the garden.
The working group has provided advice for government consideration on an approach to identifying appropriate sites to develop community gardens in established suburbs that responds to specific needs as expressed through proposals for community gardens. Broadly speaking, each proposal would be required to address site selection criteria. The working group considers that this approach is more appropriate than adopting a process of identifying particular sites in established suburbs.
It is also important to raise the practicalities of community gardens being set up within established suburbs in Canberra. Siting gardens locally would support many of the government’s objectives. The most likely location for gardens in existing suburbs would be on urban open space land, which is the zone for Canberra’s parks and open spaces. A community garden located in such a park is likely to be enclosed by secure fencing, with no access for the wider community except through membership of a group.
The working nature of the garden would be on view to adjoining neighbours. Features such as compost bins, rainwater tanks, tool sheds, shade structures and driveways would all be on view. One of the most important site selection criteria will be the demonstrated support of the local community to establish a community garden on urban open space.
Turning to the issue of defining the term “community garden” in the territory plan, the working group and ACTPLA have spent considerable time reviewing the planning and licensing controls that apply to community gardens. Currently the territory plan does not specifically include provisions for community gardens. They would be considered an outdoor recreation facility, which is a permissible use in most zones. In the urban open space zone, there is a specific condition limiting an outdoor recreation facility to occupying no more than 15 per cent of a parcel.
This is intended to ensure that sufficient urban open space is retained for general public use. In order to provide clarity, ACTPLA has indicated its support to prepare a technical amendment to the territory plan to define a community garden as “an outdoor recreation facility managed by a community group for the production of edible fruit and vegetables for personal use or as agreed by the licensee”.
Turning to the issue of the one-stop shop approval process for community gardens on unleased land, currently to establish a community garden on unleased land a proponent must apply to the land custodian for a licence. In order to facilitate the future establishment of community gardens on unleased land, I am proposing that that the licence process becomes the one-stop shop approval process for community gardens.
Currently individual elements of a garden, such as a fence, pergola, shed and landscaping, may often be exempt from development approval. However, in order to
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