A render of the original proposal. It will now be five storeys instead of seven. Images: POD Projects.
A deal to wave through a multi-unit development in Coombs that had twice been rejected has left community members fuming.
POD Projects and the ACT Planning and Land Authority reached an out-of-session agreement on 29 November over a seven-storey, 107-unit proposal for the corner of Colbung Street and Arthur Blakely Way (Coombs Section 39, Block 4).
The deal will see the proposal lose two storeys and 10 units, and add more car parking, landscaping and communal green space.
But the site was sold with a maximum yield of only 40 dwellings and the outcome will still mean a 143 per cent increase on that.
ACTPLA explained there was a “reasonable prospect” that the development would be approved if it went to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Founder of the Save Molonglo Facebook page Ryan Hemsley, who has campaigned against this and other similar proposals, says this suggests there are serious holes in the Territory Plan, and the notion of good, orderly development has been thrown out the window.
“Thirteen months and two refusals later, we’re still ending up with a development that dramatically exceeds the maximum permitted number of units allocated to the site as part of the estate development planning process,” he says.
“What I find it baffling is ACTPLA’s apparent inability to defend its own decisions before the ACAT. There is now a real danger that developers will see this capitulation as a green light for lodging equally inappropriate development applications in the future.”
Mr Hemsley says the refusal notices for the original development application and its reconsideration request outlined in very clear terms why this development proposal was inconsistent with rules and criteria of the Territory Plan.
He says that without access to the amended plans, which have already been approved, it is very difficult to determine how it could have been made compliant.
“This whole saga raises serious questions about the worth of the Territory Plan as a defence against bad development. This is something that I hope the upcoming Molonglo Valley Planning Review takes a good, hard look at.”
His sentiments are echoed in comments on the Save Molonglo Facebook page. One person commented: “If I knew there was going to be this many apartments I may not have even moved into the area. How can they change land zoned for 40 units to 97 [sic].”
Another wrote: “I’m surprised that approval can be granted to a 7-storey building, subject to a condition of consent that it being modified to a 5 storey building. In effect consent was granted to a building no one has seen yet. Way to go ACT !!! The application should have been withdrawn and resubmitted as a 5 storey building.”
Revised plans showing the changes to the development will need to be lodged with the ACT Planning and Land Authority within 28 days of the decision, which took effect on 29 November.
The original plans for the site included seven storeys and 123 units, and prompted 101 objections from people concerned at the developer cramming so many units on the site, the small size of the units, the lack of green space, and the overshadowing on neighbouring homes.
ACTPLA agreed and also threw out POD’s reconsideration bid, saying the changes did not go far enough, and the fundamental issues of building height and bulk, dwelling density and resident amenity had not been dealt with.
“Ad hoc consideration of a large increase in dwelling yield resulting in inappropriate bulk and scale within an existing area that has already been developed in accordance with the EDP [Estate Development Plan] undermines the planning system and sets an undesirable precedent,” the Notice of Decision said.
But now ACTPLA has cut a deal, grabbing what concessions it could, in the face of possible defeat in the Tribunal.
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