An artist’s impression of the proposed Thoroughbred Park redevelopment. The residential component is to the south-west, while a mixed-use commercial building occupies the north-east, next to Exhibition Park. Images: CRC.
Canberra Racing Club is looking to crack the whip on its housing plans for Thoroughbred Park now the election is over and uncertainty over the 3200-home development has dissipated.
CEO Darren Pearce provided an overview of the club’s business diversification plans to the Canberra Region Tourism Advisory Forum this week, including the housing project, which is proposed to sit on about 40 per cent or 8.5 hectares of the Lyneham site.
Mr Pearce told Region afterwards that the club hoped rezoning would be complete in the next six to 12 months and create about 175,000 square metres of developable land.
The rezoning from NUZ1 for broadacre usage to CZ5 (commercial) and RZ5 (high-density residential) via a Territory Plan Variation would allow mixed-use commercial development to the north-east of the site and high-density residential for the south-west portion of the site.
Building heights would be three to six storeys in the residential areas and up to eight storeys for commercial purposes.
Mr Pearce could not give specific dates for when development applications may be submitted but said all of the technical submissions had been lodged with the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, the NCA and the EPA.
The club had also been working on the project through the Thoroughbred Park Housing and Revitalisation Steering Committee, but caretaker mode and the election had paused that effort.
With ministers now appointed, planning work and engagement would again ramp up.
“We’re certainly starting to speak to the development community about the opportunities there and how we might partner to go forward, and also with government through the Suburban Land Agency,” Mr Pearce said.
The SLA was front of mind as a development partner, but the club would also be open to private commercial developers.
“The model is that we will probably, in the early stages, partner with proven developers until we have a capital base that allows us to be developers in our own right,” Mr Pearce said.
“I don’t think a small club like ours can go and borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to build stuff on its own.
“The smarter thing to do would be to partner either with the government’s developer or with private developers to deliver assets, you know, get the experience, build the capital base to look at what we can do ourselves in the long run.”
Another view of the proposal. Stable and training facilities occupy the racecourse infield.
The ACT Greens had proposed that all of Thoroughbred Park be turned over to housing to create a new precinct, in effect ending horse racing in the ACT and government subsidies for the sport.
They had continued to insist on the plan in coalition talks with Labor but Chief Minister Andrew Barr would not sign up to that.
“We believe there is a pragmatic way forward that can deliver a new housing estate of a sensible size and potentially generate enough revenue that horse racing would not need to be budget-funded into the future,” Mr Barr said.
The diversification plan, which also includes building an events business, aims to provide long-term sustainable financial independence for the club and the racing industry.
The masterplan shows most of the housing on the southern side of Thoroughbred Park, with only a mixed-use commercial building across the road from Exhibition Park.
Mr Pearce said this was deliberate because EPIC hosted some of the largest events in Canberra and generated a lot of noise.
“There needs to be a setback between what EPIC does and what we do with events and residential housing,” he said.
“So you simply can’t put housing on that boundary because all you would do is flood all of the government services with complaints about noise, about traffic, about the rest of it.
“So part of the design and the studies we’ve done is making sure that EPIC can continue to be an event centre and hold those mass-scale events for Canberra’s future, that we can hold our events and that the residents are shielded from that by the distance of the racecourse and our traditional amenities and commercial development, which doesn’t house residents.
“A lot of other plans, and in the recent election campaign, certainly didn’t consider the impact on Canberra events and tourism in the future, and that’s what this plan does.”
The racecourse infield will be redeveloped as new stabling and training facilities.
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