An artist’s impression of the Geocon proposal. The top floor will need to be set back 4m. Image: Turco and Associates
Development giant Geocon has won its fight to build a four-storey commercial building next to the heritage-listed old Kingston post office in Giles Street.
The Kingston Barton Residents Group and residents in the neighbouring Holford apartments had opposed the development and appealed the Planning Authority’s 2023 approval in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
In 2020, Geocon originally proposed an eight-storey, mixed-use development on the site but scaled it back after community opposition, including a rare intervention from Chief Minister and local MLA Andrew Barr.
KBRG argued that the development was out of step with the heritage character of the area, was too high and would overshadow neighbouring residential apartments, covered too much of the site, provided an insufficient number of parking spaces, and that access to the rear public car park was inadequate.
But the Tribunal, in a decision that took more than a year to be delivered, upheld the approval with two conditions – a four-metre setback on the top floor, a last-minute concession from Geocon, and privacy screens be raised from an eye line of 1.7 metres high and be impervious.
KBRG and the Holford residents had wanted the building cut down to two storeys, but the Tribunal took into account comparable building heights in the Kingston Group Centre, the scale of future development and the setback offered by Geocon.
The Tribunal said the step-back achieved the appearance of a three-storey building in the immediate vicinity of the residential units and was an appropriate balance where the two-storey limit was not a mandatory rule under the Commercial Zones Development Code and accompanied by a criterion which may permit more than two storeys.
The Tribunal also rejected claims from residents that a loss of view would be a loss of amenity, saying there was no legal right to a view.
It found that the proposal’s design attempted to respond to the immediate environment of the post office and to reinforce the character of the street, adopting aspects of the post office building, including the brickwork.
It found that the proposal’s front setback and verge treatment matched the post office, as well as referring to the colour scheme.
The Tribunal also rejected overshadowing claims, in part because of trees already shading the apartments. Overlooking worries from neighbours were also dealt with by privacy screens.
On the parking issue, it was sufficient that Transport Canberra and City Services had endorsed the proposal’s Cardno traffic report and parking study. The Tribunal accepted the development could partly rely on off-site parking, saying that for commercial zones, long-stay parking can be provided within 400 metres of a site and within 200 metres for short-stay parking.
It ruled that an oak tree at the rear, which the Conservator of Flora and Fauna considered significant, did not have to be retained because it was on unleased land and the Conservator’s advice was not required.
Mr Johnston was bitterly disappointed by ACAT’s decision to reject the community’s strong objection to the proposal and its implications for community groups in the future.
“This clearly seems to demonstrate that a community group with limited resources, even with strong community support – over 100 objections – going to the ACAT against a large developer with a big team of presumably well-paid lawyers and consultants and a compliant planning authority, has next to no chance of success,” he said.
Geocon said it was pleased with the outcome of the approval and looked forward to the future of the Giles Street project.
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