The face of Burley Griffin’s inner Canberra is about to change.
The Territory plan has now passed the Legislative Assembly and awaits gazettal, probably next month.
After that a thousand households in North Canberra could wake up any morning and find a billboard next door or over the road announcing that the three-storey block of units is to replace the existing single residences.
There are notification procedures and appeal rights. But a right to appeal does not mean the appeal will succeed. If the plan for three-storey blocks of units fits the planning guidelines, it will go through.
In the long-term, it is a radical departure from the usual pattern of Canberra’s development _ a change from development of greenfields at the fringe to wholesale redevelopment at the centre. The 1000 households are in Braddon, Dickson, Lyneham, O’Connor and Turner. (see map and table).
Change of that nature is unlikely to occur without a certain amount of aggravation and argument.
The ACT Government says greenfields development is too costly. Long lines of electricity, water and drainage and long roads are more costly, it argues than in-fill. In-fill will use existing shops, schools and health centre more efficiently.
Existing residents argue that their amenity will degraded _ extra traffic and parked cars in their streets and stretched shops, health and education facilities.
The Government has said the population in the inner area has fallen so there is room for more people. Residents have said the fall in population is due a fall in the number of children; the number of adults has remained constant. So the services that adults use are likely to be stretched. Roads designed for low-density will have to carry the traffic of high-density. So, too, with shops.
Shopping-centre occupants generally look forward to higher densities and higher trade it brings.
The Industries Commission and economists have challenged some of the views that higher density is better. Upgrading existing water, drainage and electricity can be more costly than providing new connections because the old connections have to be removed first.
There are greater social costs of greater density. And then there is the wastage of demolishing existing houses. In the case of North Canberra, most of the houses are about 30 years old with many years of serviceable use left in them.
The ACT Planning Authority says change will occur over the long term and it has issued guidelines to preserve existing amenity.
Development is likely to be patchy and erratic because it will depend on sales by existing residents. Some might stay put, in other places residents might get targeted to sell to a developer. Others might band together and sell together.
Under the guidelines, a developer will have to obtain at least three existing blocks along a streetfront and consolidate them. As soon as one project gets going in a street it is likely that other residents in a section will sell. They will have the disincentive to stay because they will face living next to units and an incentive to sell because the new betterment charges announced last week will enable them and the developer to share some of the dividend from higher values caused by the change in lease purpose.
In announcing those changes, the Minister for Environment, Land
and Planning, Bill Wood, said the arrangements were designed to give some incentive to redevelop.
However, there have been no arrangements to deal with rates. Residents who stay on will face very large rates increases as the values around them shoot up with medium-density redevelopment. It will be a further incentive to move.
There will, of course, be social questions about splitting neighbourhoods and communities of people who know each other well and who share things like baby-sitting, sport, afternoon teas and the like.
The Government in putting forward other medium-density developments has promised traffic calming. In older Burley-Griffin designed Canberra this is especially important as it has more straight roads where cars can travel faster.
There is some evidence that speculators have been quietly buying houses that have come up for sale in the area, waiting for the new plan to be gazetted. Areas close to parks are especially being targeted.
The planning authority has proposed strict guidelines and has invited comment on them. Some of the guidelines are: Minimum development 0.3ha. Maximum roof height 14m. Maximum wall height 10m. Roof pitch between 20 and 30 degrees. Maximum wall length without punctuation by bay windows, verandas or balconies 14m. Colour and tiling requirements. Under ground parking; set-backs of habitable rooms 12m from boundary; set-backs of blank walls 6m from boundary. Landscaping requirements. Open space requirements based on the floor area of the units. Conservation of existing plants.
In the older inner south, the authority is to permit the dividing of large blocks into two with strict guidelines, including a two-storey maximum. The aims are to preserve existing streetscapes.
Four-storey development is to be permitted in the area between Canberra and Wentworth Avenues and Telopea Park. The guidelines will embrace, landscaping, building materials, open-space and parking requirements.