Notes on the Bowden Urban Village and Environs Development Plan

Notes on the Bowden Urban Village and Environs Development Plan

Amendment

The Plan seeks to facilitate private-sector infill-housing development in the Charles Sturt Council area.

It is open ended with regards both volume and timing of land supply, since the major development industry players require government assurance on the availability of development opportunities

compatible with their 15 year project development cycles.

For this reason, the Plan foreshadows, and in some aspects, preempts,

principles and objectives for infill development which are City wide in their application.(“As much as it takes, when we need it”)

PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT.

It is generally accepted by the industry that there is considerable difficulty in predicting and efficiently matching housing supply and demand in any straight forward way. Reasons for this are easy enough to guess at – the variable availability and cost of finance being one, and in the case of the Australian experience, the long term government and social preference for home ownership as the predominant form of tenure being another important factor.

The Bowden and Environs DPA put forward by the Minister, because it aims to implement the SA Governments goal of providing target volumes for housing production from existing urban locations, adds another layer (or “Overlay”) of uncertainty to the fundamental problems the housing industry has in meeting demand. Not only because (in comparison to greenfields development) the meeting of targets via urban infill is far less predictable, but also because infill housing involves -potentially at least- a transfer of value between pre-existing housing users and new-housing developers. This transfer can take the form of the appropriation of public space – the St Clair development is the prime example of this - but as well necessitates relaxed development controls on overlooking, site areas, car parking, rubbish collection and other aspects of housing sustainability - as for example in the Brompton City Edge infill project, which shows fine grained examples of the problems.

The level of expropriation of value depends upon the relative use-value of the existing development and the infill which is inserted into it. In the case of the Bowden Village site, this is largely a positive transfer,flowing from the developer to the surrounding area since the site is presently vacant and contaminated. At the other end of the spectrum, negative transfers of value can be significant.

The crucial factor here is the conflict between the economy wide incentives for housing production, which are primarily not location specific, and the Governments proposed Development Plan Amendments, which are highly locational in their effect.

It has been reported that the various subsidies for home ownership are of the order of $65 billion Australia-wide per year.* These take the form of first home owner grants, negative gearing and capital gains provisions, and exemptions from GST payments. They are available independently of the geographical location of the housing produced with this assistance. (Hence the experience of recent years of housing production being roughly comprised of 30% “second” homes – holiday houses and speculative investments. The 2006 Census for example reports that 10% of housing in South Australia, at any one time, is unoccupied. These houses in aggregate could be regarded as a “Ghost City” in that their economic reality is divorced from any actual human inhabitation.)

China now has an estimated inventory of 64 million vacant homes. It is building up to 20 new ghost cities a year on the country’s “vast swathes of free land.”

What effect will these changes have? While the economic incentives for higher density housing construction are 'in step' with and re-enforce the property value increases of recent years, the resultant expropriations of amenity could be presented as a win win situation, at least for those able to take advantage of Commonwealth Government subsidies to home owners. This seems to be the position of the State MP Mr Atkinson, who is on record as encouraging people to sell their homes to the developers and trade up to a new home on the St Clair site – outside of his electorate.

Should the unthinkable happen, and the $65 billion subsidy is not sufficient to maintain the housing asset bubble, then with the new development controls in place, the housing industry will require more and more density, and less and less amenity, in order to go ahead at all. In short, there are no funds available for Keynesian 'counter cyclical' stimulation of demand.

The Plan establishes a category of infill development (“Affordable Housing”) which is exempt from all or most conditions of development control. The Plan points to Brompton policy area 20 - and the exemptions established by precedent in that area bordering the Bowden site - as an example which should be emulated elsewhere in relation to “affordable” housing.

By resident “d”

* Reply to criticism: The figure of $65b results from an attempt to update the figures presented in the 2009 AHURI Yates Report. I include an estimation of the present day value of superannuation fund housing investment which attracts taxation benefits (contrary to all economic orthodoxy, but in line with the pro cyclical impact this has on the existing housing market)

A TALE OF TWO TODS

A report  on the agenda of Charles Sturt Council’s  Finance, Policy and  Delegations Committee meeting tonight estimates that the  costs of the ground breaking new development in Bowden   on  the council budget would amount to  approximately $800,000 .

The report proposes that these costs ought to be “ring fenced” from the town as a whole, either by way of a ‘differential rate’ or a sinking fund financed by the developers.

Co-incidentally, the Minister is due to release the  Bowden Village Development Plan Amendment on the Tuesday following the Council’s meeting.

The Council report admits that previous major developments, such as the St Clair  TOD, have not been  ‘ring fenced’ in this way by council.

By C D

GRADE SEPARATION & HAWKER STREET

The level crossings at Torrens Road and Hawker Street provide a continuing source of frustration to motorists when freight trains are forced to slow down or stop across these intersections to allow the passenger trains priority passage over the Torrens Junction track crossover in the Adelaide City Park lands.
This delay would be greatly reduced if a “grade separation” was constructed at the Torrens Junction – by way of a bridge or culvert – to remove the intersection of the freight and passenger rail tracks.
A proposal by the State Government to the Federal Infrastructure Australia to construct this grade separation at Torrens and Goodwood Rail Junctions was prioritized number one project by the Federal Government in 2009.
The other prioritized projects were:
F3–Branxton Freeway (NSW)
Majura Parkway (Stage 2) (ACT)
Pacific Highway Corridor (NSW)
Ipswich Motorway Upgrade
While the Torrens Junction proposal did not get Federal funding, all the others were successful. Why? Motorists stuck at Torrens Road and Hawker Street by freight trains will no doubt be asking this question.
The most likely reason for the failure was the decision of the State Government to amend its application to include provision for the undergrounding of the Park Terrace  passenger line and Bowden Station as part of the Bowden Urban Village Transport Orientated Development.
However because the BUV TOD proposal was still at a early stage of planning, it could not meet the requirement of the Federal Government that funding would be committed to those projects which were “ready to go” – this being a crucial part of the (successful) strategy to protect the economy from the effects of the global financial crisis.
Now the State Government appears to be hoping that grade separation will  be funded in part by the rail industry itself –
“The development of more efficient national land-based freight transport links to overseas markets is critical for South Australia’s economy. The rail industry will be encouraged to upgrade the freight rail network through Adelaide to reduce conflict with passenger transport, as well as upgrading the Adelaide-Melbourne link. This will be supported through the expansion and development of intermodal facilities.” [Strategic Infrastructure Plan SA –Discussion paper 2010]
This in turn suggests that the undergrounding of Bowden Station – now the centre-piece of the BUV master plan – will have to be funded by the State Government. If only the scheme had  a “Black Box” attached in 2009.

275 kV XLPE Cable Bridge & PEDESTRIAN CROSSING

Artists imression of the new bridge at Bonython Park (courtesy ELECTRANET)

NOTE TO CRANE FANCIERS: The lift will be happening before the end of May. At this stage, (17/5/2011) the results of soil compression tests are requyired before the   cranes can access the site            A new 38m span concrete bridge crossing the River Torrens at Bonython Park is now under construction
Of particular interest is the integration of the cable installation and operation alongside high pressure gas mains located on common structures, and security from vandalism or falling tree branches

 Bridge under construction showing cable form-guides

the span on Bonython Park ready to load

The Bowden /Thebarton  area now has a large range of infrastucture planned or existing, and is a focal point for pedestrian & cycle paths, gas, water, high voltage electricity,  train, tram and motor transport.

TOD-off, urge experts

Victorian Libs ditch TODs

HINDMARASH WARD ELECTION 2010

The accompanying  flyer provides the real election leaflet for  Hindmarsh Ward this year.
Candidates may proclaim this or that policy, but it is the property boom that is relentlessly reshaping Hindmarsh, and therefore setting the tasks facing the incoming  Council.
Some observers say that Australian housing prices are 40% over value – and while prices are now trending down interstate, here in South Australia some “hot-spot” suburbs have recorded  percentage rises of double digit levels for 2009-10.
This is a result of capital movements which bear no relationship to the historical norm – bank mortgage finance at 5% - 6%pa. The present asset price bubble is fuelled by speculative capital flows from overseas sources, short term investments by superannuation funds in property trusts, and small scale individual speculation by local property owners. Characteristically, the bubble is justified by a pernicious circular logic in which asset price rises are assumed to constitute an adequate – or even necessary - basis for further rises.
The following chart is drawn from ABS tables. It clearly demonstrates the result of the late eighties asset price bubble on housing construction  in South Australia– that investment is in effect “brought forward” by such booms, and this brought forward investment is at the expense of future investment levels

Housing costs now however are now at a high of six to seven times annual household income. The “Australian dream” is now only possible for a majority of Australians if wage income is supplemented with returns from credit based property speculation, whether real or as “on paper” profits. In the area this reliance is displayed by the churn factor, as one half of residents of the Federal electorate have been residing in the same house for less than 5 years.
  
 
“BUILDING WEALTH”..DRAWING IN FRESH LAYERS OF PUNTERS investors .
At the urging of the Property Council, major development consortia, and the monopoly media both the Charles Sturt Council and the State Government  have been tireless in facilitating the bubble. The Council plans to change zone provisions throughout the ward, with the intention of relaxing impediments to property development. The State Government is about to launch high density growth centres at Bowden and further “Transport Oriented Developments” along the Port Adelaide railway line. As the local MP Mick Atkinson points out, the majority of units in the Bowden TOD will be affordable by the upper income bracket latte set only

indicative plan from Charles Sturt CEO Mark Withers showing TOD extent (blue circles)

While there are compelling reasons for increasing densities in the area, to implement this riding on a wave of speculative frenzy is imprudent. Council could turn its attention to providing affordable rental housing as is the case in the UK – if the electors so decide.

CULTURAL MAPPING SUBMISSION: ROB GERARD

“What factors led to the present condition of the Bowden south Clipsal site?”
Firstly, just in size the site is extraordinary for the locality. In terms of land use, the Clipsal site represented the largest discrete block not only in Bowden Brompton, but in the Hindmarsh Council area. Only the former pughole sites, which in 1980 were still largely vacant or with very low value developments on them, would come close to the Clipsal in area.

The expansion of Clipsals began in earnest in  1976 when  the third generation of the Gerard  family  took over the reigns of the private company. This expansion was  later facilitated by the partnership with Singapore-listed Clipsal Industries Holdings (CIH) which gained a 50% stake in the business.

During the 80s, Clipsal acquired from the Hindmarsh Council the public roads through Bowden south, and a large block of Gas Company land from Botral Energy. Clipsal, through its personnel officer Kevin Inverarity , played a significant role in the fightback by local industries against Hindmarsh Resident Association campaigns, lobbying State Governments and the local council, and in one case, running a candidate in the Bowden Ward election.
Mr Robert Gerard OA, the high profile Gerards director, carried on the Gerard family tradition of philanthropic donations to various South Australian organisations, and was appointed South Australian of the year.    . 
He was awarded the Order of Australia in 1999 for
“FOR SERVICE TO THE SA DOMESTIC AND EXPORT INDUSTRIES, TO YOUTH, PARTICULARLY THROUGH THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S AWARD IN AUST, AND TO THE COMMUNITY AS A SPONSOR OF CULTURAL AND SPORTING ACTIVITIES”. 


Mr Gerard was a  patron of the South Australian Jockey Club, the Adelaide Crows and a generous benefactor to the Liberal Party, where he  sat on the parties’ finance committee and State Council. Since 1995, Gerard Industries and associated companies  have donated over $1,000,000 to the Liberal Party.

Rob Gerard is no stranger to controversy, it being alleged in Parliament that his company  had made a  donation  of $25,000 to the 2006 election fund of the present Charles Sturt  Mayor, Harold Anderson. It was during the subsequent term that the Council switched from fierce opposition to equally fierce support for the sale by the South Australian Jockey Club of the Cheltenham Racecourse to private developers.

Rob Gerard resigned from the board of The Reserve Bank of Australia in 2005 after it was revealed that the Australian Taxation Office in a 2001 Audit Report  alleged that
“ there was either a deliberate and knowing intention on the part of Gerard
Industries, acting through its directors R.G. Gerard and W.R. Henderson, to avoid the payment of tax or that there was a flagrant disregard for the operation of taxation law that cannot be excused in people of their skill and experience in business practice and taxation law …"


The charges were not admitted by Gerard, who also denied through his lawyer Michael Abbott QC that the amount of the settlement paid  by Gerard Industries was in the order of $150,000,000. Nevertheless, several reports in the media claim that the Gerard tax bill was paid out of the procceeds of the sale of Clipsalsto a French multinational

Given the significant effect the Clipsal company and Mr Gerard has had on the Bowden South area, I believe it is fitting that his activities should be commemorated in some way in the Bowden Village Development.

: Bowden Urban Village Community Groups Briefing - Session 4

LMC Email  Re:

            Bowden Urban Village Community Groups Briefing - Session 4

                     - to discuss draft indicative concept plan

           

 

on Wednesday 18 August 2010 from 6.00pm - 8.30pm

            at  Bowden Brompton Community Centre, 19 Green Street, Brompton

 

 

Thank you to those who have been able to join us for the three briefing and discussion sessions on Bowden Urban Village over the past few weeks at the Bowden Brompton Community Centre. The sessions generated some interesting and valuable discussions.

 

Over the course of the three sessions we have:

 

a)   discussed the next steps - milestones and engagement opportunities, the DPA process, cultural heritage mapping, place making and ongoing consultation;

 

b)   recapped on the master plan process and looked at the outcomes of the master plan review;

 

c)   reviewed the draft guiding principles for the development of the site (being the former Clipsal and Origin sites);

 

d)   discussed sustainability - energy, water and waste; and

 

e)   discussed project governance.

 

We invite you to join us for another session - being held on Wednesday 18 August 2010 - from 6.00pm-8.30pm at the Bowden Brompton Community Centre at which we will be discussing the draft indicative concept plan for the site.

 

In spreading the word of this briefing, we are emailing key representatives and individuals who were invited and/or attended the previous three briefings.

 

We ask that all key representatives canvass other members of the community groups they represent, to ensure that they are advised and have the opportunity to participate.

 

We would be grateful if, for the purposes of catering and room layout, the key representative of each group invited could respond to advise the names and numbers of their organisation's participants by close of business Thursday 12 August 2010 - to either the Bowden Urban Village project email address or 1800 number - below.

 

As with previous sessions, light refreshment will be provided, being sandwiches, biscuits, tea, coffee and juice. 

 

If anyone has any queries in relation to the briefing please contact us.

 

Kind regards

Bowden Urban Village Project Team
Land Management Corporation
P:  Toll Free 1800 993 439
F:   08 8207 0830
E: village.bowden@lmc.sa.gov.au
W: www.lmc.sa.gov.au/bowdenvillage

________________________________________________________________

 

The Raptis Choke Point

The Entertainment Centre and concomitant Tram extension at Bowden are proceeding at break-neck speed.

Some business ventures have already seen the vibrant future in store for  Bowden Village and bought in with enthusiasm. (95-89 Port Road)

Under delegated authority, an application to change the use of the old Funeral Parlour to “services associated with massage” has been refused by the City of Charles Sturt Council. An appeal has been lodged by the applicant which is to be heard on March 17th 2011 The ‘Tiser carried a further report 2/7/2011 here: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/massage-parlour-boss-seeks-angels-to-help-the-needy/story-e6frea6u-1226085920783

 

One fly in the ointment is the “Raptis Choke” at the corner of Port Road and Park Terrace, seen easily on the works plan:

While there are to be seven south bound lanes on Park Terrace, only three northerly ones can be accommodated. This signals the closure of Adam Street at some point, we. suspect.

The entire plan:

.