The fate of three major planning hot spots in old Canberra will not be known before the election. The delay in one of the them, Old Red Hill, is affecting the marketing of the home of the Member for Canberra, Ros Kelly. Opposition Planning spokesman Greg Cornwell called last week for the ACT Government to announce its decisions on medium density proposals in Hunter Street, Yarralumla, and Lefroy Street, Griffith, before the election.
A further dispute over proposals for seven units in Wickham Crescent, Red Hill, is also unlikely to be resolved before the election. The Old Red Hill Preservation Society has called on all parties to clarify their position on redevelopment in the area before the election. Mr Cornwell also called on the Government to clarify what he called “”post-Landsdown confusion”. Planning Minister Bill Wood said it was not for him to make a political decision about the medium density proposals. They were in the middle of administrative processes. In Lefroy Street the ACT Planning Authority had refused the design and sitting application and the developer had appealed. The lease variation, however, had been approved and the third party residents had appealed. The result of the appeals is not yet decided. In Hunter Street the lease variation had been approved with conditions against which the developer had appealed and residents had appealed the variation. Mr Cornwell said people did not know whether to ground their appeals on the rules existing before the November 21 Landsdown report or on the new rules. He said the position on “”Cape Cod” extensions was unclear.
Mr Wood said there would be very few outstanding applications on the old rules. He had announced the Landsdown inquiry on August 21 and the authority had done its best to clear the decks before the report came down. Mr Wood said “”Cape Cod” extensions would be treated like another two-storey dwelling for planning purposes. Mr Cornwell said the Government was deliberately delaying clarification of planning issues before the election. Residents and developers had a right to know before the election whether the hot spots would fall within the new Local Area Planning Zones. In Red Hill the green notice went up in Wickham Crescent went up on Christmas Eve, from which date residents had 21 days to appeal. About 30 objections have been lodged. Some residents have sought an extension of time citing the Christmas holiday.
The Australian Heritage Council is expected to heritage list the whole of Old Red Hill at its February meeting. However, its rulings are advisory only. The ACT Heritage Council has decided that the heritage value of the area lies in the streetscape and that some townhouses would not be incompatible with this. Its ruling is under appeal to the Land and Planning Appeal Board which is expected to hear it in March. Some residents say its ruling is too weak; others do not want any heritage ruling because it would interfere with what they want to do with their land. Ann Howarth of the Old Red Preservation Society said neither Labor nor the Liberal Party had a clear vision of how they would like Canberra to look in the future. She said the single-dwelling, large-block area of Old Red Hill was unique and should not be destroyed by unit development. One unit development would cause a domino effect.
The impasse is tending to freeze the real-estate market in the area, including Mrs Kelly’s house in Wickham Crescent which is for sale. Real-estate sources say that two key types of buyers are reluctant to commit themselves while the impasse continues. One sort wants to live in a genteel, single-residence, large-block environment. The other sort are investors who would see the property as redevelopment potential. While the impasse continues neither is confident of the future for the property. The sources say it is not really a question of price; both sorts of buyers are prepared to pay similar amounts _ provided they can be certain of their use of the property after the event.