PROPERTY COUNCIL CAMPAIGN

HANSARD: HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

Tuesday 3 April 2012 Page 1036

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:22):

On 25 March, the Property Council of Australia released a survey of 5,200 Australians about the liveability of their cities and how their governments performed in urban policy. For the second year running Adelaide was the winning city. Adelaide is seen as an affordable place with a good standard of living, as well as being clean, well maintained and unpolluted. Last week also saw the Property Council launch a campaign to improve cities across Australia.

I am pleased to say that, in his speech to the National Press Club, the CEO of the Property Council of Australia, Peter Verwer, said that South Australia is the only jurisdiction to have integrated city planning and target setting right—the only jurisdiction in the nation. This is an endorsement of both the 30-year plan and also South Australia's Strategic Plan.

While these accolades are welcome, the government intends to keep striving to further improve our city.

The survey also highlighted the types of housing development Adelaide residents want for the future, with a high level of support, interestingly, being for the conversion of old industrial sites to apartments and townhouses, which is good news for the Bowden, Brompton and other developments.

PUBLIC WORKSHOP BOWDEN VILLAGE DPA

"A community initiated and run workshop on the Bowden Urban Village Development Plan Amendement (DPA) will be held at 1pm on Saturday, 24 March 2012 at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel. The workshop will allow the community to discuss their concerns, but will also provide residents with advice on the process and how to prepare submissions. On behalf of the workshops organisers Council has invited representatives of both the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure who have prepared the DPA and the newly formed Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to attend."

COMPARISON: EXISTING and PROPSED VISUAL PRIVACY POLICIES, Bowden Village DPA

The Ministers’ proposed changes to Council Development Policies are outlined below – the existing policies are highlighted green.

The Ministerial changes in  this Council wide change are self evidently designed to remove safeguards against unreasonable overlooking which the residents present (at least in theory) enjoy.

DPA POPOSED AMENDMENT

(in “Design & Appearance  General  Section”)

Visual Privacy

10 Development should minimise direct overlooking of the main internal living areas and private open spaces of dwellings through measures such as:

(a) off-setting the location of balconies and windows of habitable rooms with those of other buildings so that views are oblique rather than direct

(b) building setbacks from boundaries (including building boundary to boundary where appropriate) that interrupt views or that provide a spatial separation between balconies or windows of habitable rooms

(c) screening devices (including fencing, obscure glazing, screens, external ventilation blinds, window hoods and shutters) that are integrated into the building design and have minimal negative effect on residents’ or neighbours’ amenity.

11 Permanently fixed external screening devices should be designed and coloured to complement the associated building’s external materials and finishes.

CHARLES STURT DPA – CURRENT VERSION

(in “Residential Dev. General Sec.)

Visual Privacy

32 Direct overlooking into habitable room windows and onto the useable private open spaces of other dwellings from windows, especially from upper-level habitable rooms and external balconies, terraces and decks, should be minimised through the adoption of one or more of the following:

(a) building layout

(b) location and design of windows and balconies

(c) screening devices

(d) landscaping

(e) adequate separation.

33 Permanently fixed external screening devices should be designed and coloured to blend with the associated building’s external material and finishes.

DPA POPOSED AMENDMENT

Visual Privacy

(GENERAL  SECTION, Medium or Highrise Developments, 3 or more storeys):

4 The visual privacy of ground floor dwellings within multi-storey buildings should be protected through the use of design features such as the elevation of ground floors above street level, setbacks from the street and the location of verandas, windows, porticos or the like.

Visual Privacy

(GENERAL  SECTION, Residential Development.)

22 Except for buildings of 3 or more storeys, upper level windows, balconies, terraces and decks that overlook habitable room windows or private open space of dwellings should maximise visual privacy through the use of measures such as sill heights of not less than 1.5 metres or permanent screens having a height of 1.5 metres above finished floor level.

CHARLES STURT DPA – CURRENT VERSION

(Charles Sturt Council   Table Section
Table ChSt/1- Conditions for Complying Development)

Visual Privacy

15 Windows of habitable rooms at or above the second storey and which face side or rear site boundaries have:

(a) permanently fixed translucent glazing in any part of the window below 1.7 metres above floor level; or

(b) sill heights of at least 1.7 metres above floor level.

16 Dwellings have no balconies, terraces or decks at or above the second storey.

NB: Table Reference “ChSt/1 above is to the whole council area. This condition was inserted as a special policy by the Charles  Sturt Council and is not a metropolitan wide policy

notes from the underground…

WIDENING PARK TERRACE – DTEI:WIDENING
”A section of Park Terrace, North Adelaide, will soon be widened to assist in improving the function, safety and capacity of the Port Road/Park Terrace/Adam Street intersection and supporting the strategic transport accessibility objectives of the Inner Ring Route.
The section of road to be widened is on the southern side of Park Terrace between Seventh Avenue and the intersection of Port Road/Park Terrace/Adam Street.
This project will involve the:

• Installation of a third signalised left turning lane between the Port Road intersection and the Park Terrace level crossing.
• Provision of a second dedicated left turn lane east of the Park Terrace level crossing.
• Installation of a two stage pedestrian crossing across Park Terrace near the level crossing to cross both the east bound and west bound carriageways.”

http://www.nearmap.com/?ll=-34.907569,138.578045&z=18&t=m

The priorities of the Government are plain to see here. The very first cabs off the rank - before even a sod is turned on the Clipsal site itself - are the new entry lanes being constructed  to improve car access to the site.  For pedestrian and cycle access, the Government is installing a new crossing next to the train line.


photo: sharing the level crossing

Although it claims to be designing an “Urban Village” which will increase pedestrian and cyclist amenity, the Transport Oriented Development at Bowden is a misnomer and should more accurately be called a “Car Oriented Development”.
A good example for the Government to follow is provided by a land bridge in Vancouver, shown here:

photo from The Seattle Times


 
People Kiosk on Vancouver Land Bridge
Wendy Bumgardner © 2008
“The Vancouver Land Bridge has three kiosks along its length. Each provides benches for resting and contemplating the view. The People kiosk celebrates the Native Americans of the region, with artwork representing their culture”
( http://walking.about.com/od/trailusawest/ig/Vancouver-Land-Bridge/Land-Bridge-Walkers.htm )