Page 2380 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 5 August 2015
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Construction of light rail will require the establishment of a number of temporary construction compounds. The site selection process for temporary construction compounds involves extensive consultation with the relevant ACT government agencies. The area, duration and location of construction compounds will not be confirmed until the preferred bidder has been engaged and their construction methodology and schedule is known. The London Circuit north-west car park, often referred to as the Magistrates Court car park, is one of the sites proposed as a temporary construction compound. The proposed closure of this car park for use as a site compound during construction was raised in response to the draft EIS and is a key concern for a number of businesses operating in the city.
Based on the feedback from community and local businesses, we recognise this is a busy and well-utilised car park and, should it be required for construction of light rail, the Capital Metro Agency will need to work with the successful bidder to minimise impacts as much as possible. It is important to reiterate this point: at this stage the Magistrates Court car park is proposed as a construction site compound, but this arrangement will not be able to be confirmed until the preferred bidder has been engaged and their construction methodology and schedule is known.
Having said that, the government is listening closely to the concerns being raised by the community, and we understand them. Prior to engaging the successful bidder, the Capital Metro Agency, the Land Development Agency and the Economic Development Directorate are all working together to explore sensible alternatives to the potential impact of lost parking spaces in the city. Possible solutions being explored include alternative locations for the depot, alternative new parking locations in the city, and exploring the feasibility of temporary parking structures.
This is an important issue and it is one the government is taking very seriously. With the formal consultation process of draft EIS now complete, capital metro is working through all comments received from the community and key stakeholders. The agency will address each issue raised in the final EIS and will lodge the document with the Environment and Planning Directorate later this year. But this is not the end of the conversation. Capital Metro has met with and will continue to meet with businesses, residents and stakeholders along the corridor to understand what is important to their local area, and we are doing this in two new exciting ways. The first of these is the place manager program which commenced in July.
This program involves the placement of dedicated Capital Metro staff, or place managers, at three locations along the corridor—Gungahlin, Dickson and Civic. By positioning Capital Metro staff in offices along the light rail alignment, businesses and the community will have convenient access to the project team to ask questions or work through potential concerns they may have. Our dedicated place managers are available every Wednesday and Thursday at set times for people to drop in and have a chat, or people can schedule an appointment with a place manager at a time that is more suitable to them.
Since the program commenced our place managers have also been proactive in making contact and meeting with local businesses along the corridor. Our place
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