Page 409 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 2019
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Planning and Urban Renewal—Standing Committee—Report 6—Draft Variation to the Territory Plan No 345 Mawson Group Centre: Zone Changes and Amendments to the Mawson Precinct Map and Code—Government Response.
I am pleased to be tabling the government response to the Standing Committee on Planning and Urban Renewal report No 6. The report provided 12 recommendations as an outcome of the standing committee inquiry into Territory Plan draft variation 345 for the Mawson group centre, also known as DV345. The government thanks the committee for their consideration of the matters raised in the course of the inquiry and has carefully considered the recommendations provided by the committee. Of the 12 recommendations, the ACT government has agreed to five, agreed in part to one and noted six recommendations.
It is gratifying that the committee agrees that the draft variation should be approved, as the changes made to the Territory Plan through DV345 will encourage revitalisation of the centre through moderate increases in development density, while retaining the unique character of the centre.
The five committee recommendations agreed to are generally minor amendments that, while departing from the master plan recommendations, will result in greater amenity for users of the centre, with only moderate reductions in development rights for commercial lessees within the centre. The agreed recommendations will retain higher levels of solar access to public spaces by introducing a height limit around the courtyard areas and will provide a new courtyard area as part of any future development of the surface car parks. In addition, the changes will make it easier for users of any redeveloped public car parks to access the centre, rather than being confined to the development, through requiring direct pedestrian access to and from public land.
The government also agreed with the recommendation to meet with the owners of the 7-Eleven service station to discuss the concerns they raised in their submission to the standing committee.
The single recommendation that was agreed in part was to ensure that all existing public car parking spaces are replaced if the surface car parks are developed in the future. I note that this was already a requirement of the previous Mawson precinct code and is being retained in the amended precinct code. The requirement does not include an associated criterion to provide a necessary measure of flexibility where a future development can adequately demonstrate there is significant and sufficient parking within the centre to accommodate the anticipated demand in the centre. It is necessary to retain the criterion, particularly given that the car parks are not likely to be redeveloped for some years, as changing transport needs in the future may have an effect on the parking demand within the centre.
The six noted recommendations include recommendations to approve the variation, to retain a proposed solar access provision and to continue with consideration of a second supermarket for a surface car park in the centre. I am pleased to advise that
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