29 October 2011

Planning Minister speaks on building the future

| johnboy
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The University of Canberra have posted this video with the following note:

In this talk the ACT’s Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell MLA, outlines future directions of the ACT’s planning, transport and climate change policies in the context of the built environment and transport provision.

simon corbell

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There’s a development in Dickson, not far from Dara, that has its own traffic light in the driveway.

I kid you not.

Apart from the ”’legitimate” aim of Increasing Population Density, the knockdown plague commonly leads to single dwelling redevelopment.
A three bedroom home surrounded by garden will be demolished, to be replaced by a three bedroom, playroom, parents retreat, etc, that all but fills the denuded block.
There is no gain in population density, the same number of people are housed, but without gardens, trees or open space.

shadow boxer8:49 am 31 Oct 11

dpm said :

Deref said :

Aye, there’s the rub. If a McMansion on a 400m^2 block was half the cost or less than an ex-govvie on a 1,000m^2 block you’d say fair enough. (Most of the McMansions I’ve been in are so cheaply built that the ex-govvie, adjusted for inflation, would have been much more expensive to build, so you can discount the size difference.)

A decent example of this is around the ‘new’ Weston area. A new house on a ~600m2 block (quite close to the soon-to-be-a-lot-busier Cotter Rd) is selling for $975k:
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/no-street-name-provided-weston-canberra/1316804016711

While around 1km away (give or take) in ‘old’ Weston there are 3 or so examples of older houses for ~$510k on 750m2+ blocks:
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/28-rivers-street-weston-canberra/1316800188611
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/2-auld-place-weston-canberra/1316796527211
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/6-heysen-street-weston-canberra/1316801948511
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/1-gritten-street-weston-canberra/1316801971011

I’m pretty sure the $465k difference would buy a lot of house if you knocked down and rebuilt – or extended the ‘old’ places. (A friend of mine built a large house on a knockdown block in Curtin for ~$350k about 2 years ago?)

It’s all a bit strange, to me anyway….

It’s because old houses are dark, cold and crappy….

Seriously though I think the urban infill argument is logically flawed. The two big reasons cited for doing it are less cars (and parking) required and more “sustainable”

The best example we have of growing urban infill in Canberra is probably Dickson.

Having grown up there I don’t think Dickson is the lovely community it was where everyone in the street knew reach other and we gathered for community bonfires behind the pool.

Rather urban infill develops areas where no-one knows anyone else, everyone is rushing around and judging by the shopping centre everyone kept their cars and you can’t get a park.

Crime has gone through the roof.
The community facilities like clubs, pubs (vale the Dicko) ovals and open space have given way to mega-clubs and more flats.
Original residents are driven out by spiralling rates.
Traffic is chaos.
The schools are overcrowded (yes i’m looking at you Daramalen) and generally the place is well on the way to becoming an anonymous inner city rat race.

Deref said :

Aye, there’s the rub. If a McMansion on a 400m^2 block was half the cost or less than an ex-govvie on a 1,000m^2 block you’d say fair enough. (Most of the McMansions I’ve been in are so cheaply built that the ex-govvie, adjusted for inflation, would have been much more expensive to build, so you can discount the size difference.)

A decent example of this is around the ‘new’ Weston area. A new house on a ~600m2 block (quite close to the soon-to-be-a-lot-busier Cotter Rd) is selling for $975k:
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/no-street-name-provided-weston-canberra/1316804016711

While around 1km away (give or take) in ‘old’ Weston there are 3 or so examples of older houses for ~$510k on 750m2+ blocks:
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/28-rivers-street-weston-canberra/1316800188611
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/2-auld-place-weston-canberra/1316796527211
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/6-heysen-street-weston-canberra/1316801948511
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/1-gritten-street-weston-canberra/1316801971011

I’m pretty sure the $465k difference would buy a lot of house if you knocked down and rebuilt – or extended the ‘old’ places. (A friend of mine built a large house on a knockdown block in Curtin for ~$350k about 2 years ago?)

It’s all a bit strange, to me anyway….

miz said :

High density is all very well if you don’t want kids, pets or a garden. A small proportion of people would want this. However, most people when they think of owning their own home do not think of a box in a multi-storey. Australians are devotedly attached to the suburban dream and no amount of lecturing will change this.

And yet I’m pretty sure many apartment blocks sellout before building has even commenced.

“But main street’s still all cracked and broken!”
“Sorry mom the mob has spoken.”
Monorail. Monorail. Monorail!….

High density is all very well if you don’t want kids, pets or a garden. A small proportion of people would want this. However, most people when they think of owning their own home do not think of a box in a multi-storey. Australians are devotedly attached to the suburban dream and no amount of lecturing will change this.

dpm said :

Not sure which area of Canberra works out the best overall, but it seems so odd to have such black and white as you cross from old (e.g. civic area) to new (e..g Gungahlin). Especially as house prices don’t seem to change too greatly.

Aye, there’s the rub. If a McMansion on a 400m^2 block was half the cost or less than an ex-govvie on a 1,000m^2 block you’d say fair enough. (Most of the McMansions I’ve been in are so cheaply built that the ex-govvie, adjusted for inflation, would have been much more expensive to build, so you can discount the size difference.)

Canberra is fast becoming two distinct residential areas: the first is suburbs older than ~15 years that have ~700-900m2 blocks with a range of house sizes, and the ‘new’ Canberra – all subrubs with apartments, or ~450m2 blocks with large (?220+m2) houses on top. You wouldnt even need to jump from roof to roof in the new ‘burbs; you can easily stroll from rooftop to rooftop there….

Not sure which area of Canberra works out the best overall, but it seems so odd to have such black and white as you cross from old (e.g. civic area) to new (e..g Gungahlin). Especially as house prices don’t seem to change too greatly.

Wouldn’t you know it? One of the “managing partners” of CURF, the outfit that brought this sermon of Simon Corbell’s to us is one Andrew Cappie-Wood of the ACT Government. Mr Cappie-Wood lectured Canberrans at community forums last year on just how important high-density housing is to ensure a sustainable future for our city, and that we will “just have to get used to living medium-to-high density”. At one of those forums, however, after being asked the question, Mr Cappie-Wood confessed that he himself lives on ten acres at Wamboin. Picture, if you will, that Mr Cappie-Wood is occupying 120 dwellings worth of land. One arrant hypocrite down – how many more to go?

Hypocrisy check: how many of Simon Corbell’s MLA colleagues and senior bureaucrats live in medium to high density housing? How many live on suburban blocks or hobby farms on the outskirts of town?

Blocks of flats. Lots of blocks of flats. And lots more people. With no improvements in roads.

Hey – I could do that job!

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