They are the change spots of Canberra. They have drawn heated debate over the past few years as the population grows from natural causes (because it is a young one) and from political causes (because the Federal bureaucracy, despite what they say, is growing relentlessly). The ACT Government has to provide about 3500 new dwellings a year to cope with this. The growth causes pressure on the bush parts of the Bush Capital and on the centre.
First to the suburban encroachment on three cultural sites. Picture One shows Mount Stromlo Observatory with the nearby hatched area showing proposed extensions to Duffy-Holder. The ACT Government is committed to a 50-50 program. Fifty per cent of development will be in-fill and fifty per cent greenfields. It argues that this is the best use of resources such as schools, shops, health centres and the like because the population in inner areas has fallen. It says it is cheaper to provide electricity, water and sewerage to inner areas.
Stromlo says it is still doing important international work. It acknowledges that the increased light from Canberra generally will one day force its relocation, but it wants to postpone that day as long as possible. The inverse square law or light says that light close to the observatory is going to be exponentially more damaging that light further away. They want this in-fill to be last and residents in Duffy and Holder agree.
Picture Two shows Tuggeranong Homestead surrounded by houses. The homestead is slowly falling into ruin. Historian Charles Bean wrote the first five chapters of the Official History of World War I at the homestead where he sough tranquillity after the horrors of the Western Front. The Australian War Memorial has money to restore or even prevent further decay of the homestead. There is an open day on the site today (sat21). The Legislative Assembly’s Conservation, Heritage and Environment Committee has recommended and the Government has accepted that a Charles Bean study centre be put on the site. The precise nature and extent of nearby housing and commercial development on the site will now go before the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee. There have been unconfirmed suggestions point to development on the site of a Federation Square type centre.
Another homestead, Lanyon, which houses the Sidney Nolan Ned Kelly collection, is arrowed in Picture Three. It shows the encroaching suburbs and the closeness of the suburbs to the Murrumbidgee River. Lanyon’s rural aspect is under threat.
Picture Four illustrates the urban density debate. Houses in Gungahlin are being built at much higher densities requiring smarter design to avoid clashes of light and noise. Some residents of North Canberra say there is plenty of space in Gungahlin without building North Watson which will stress their school and shopping centre and result in expensive replacement of infrastructure.
The hatched area in Picture Five shows the site for the hospice on Acton Peninsula. On one side of the debate, people argue it is a peaceful place and ideal. They say, too, that the peninsula should be reserved for medical and community use and not be used for commercial uses. Some want a mix of uses. Others say the hospice should go next to a major hospital. Some say it should go into existing buildings on the peninsula. The site faces south-west over the lake. The site with the northerly aspect was rejected by the National Capital Planning Authority which has a major say because the peninsula is in the national area.
Some have argued that the peninsula is too far away from shops, major public transport routes and other facilities to be appropriate for a hospice, ancillary health facilities, low-cost housing and community facilities and would like to see some major national function there with commercial-recreational uses along the north-facing shore.
And Picture Six shows the result of the debate a decade and half ago about office redevelopment in Civic. As the office development went ahead, so did the provision of parking sites. From the air the large percentage of the city centre given to parking is made clear. Whether this is a good economic or environmental return is debateable. Its effect on ACTION’s patronage is also unknown.
The darkly hatched area is the site for the ACT Magistrates Court that ran foul of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Capital.
The ACT wanted a six-storey building. The National Capital Planning Authority then proposed a major change for City Hill which would have seen Constitution and Edinburgh Avenues extended to Vernon Circle around the hill and several sets of traffic lights around the hill to stop it from being an island in a freeway. Buildings of up to six storeys addressing Vernon Circle would have been allowed.