Page 13 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 13 February 2018

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Murrumbidgee, rather than in my role as the planning committee chair. I do not wish anyone to feel that in this part I am speaking on behalf of my colleagues, although obviously I hope they will be supportive of my statements.

Our first recommendation, as I said, was subject to our other recommendations to approve this variation. Recommendations 2, 3 4 and 6 deal with issues of clear communication between the planning authority and the community. It is really disappointing that these recommendations still have to be made, because I can remember similar ones in previous Assemblies. Recommendation 5 tells the ACT government to finalise the development of master plans in a more timely fashion. Recommendations 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 all deal with the important issues of building height and overshadowing, in particular in the town centre of Woden.

The draft variation to the Territory Plan proposed that many buildings could have an additional four storeys. However, the committee recommended that this should only occur where the development demonstrates design excellence; the development provides demonstrated community benefits such as community housing or not-for-profit community facilities; and the additional height will not have a significant detrimental overshadowing impact on public spaces or residential buildings.

Recommendation 12 is a key recommendation. It is that the ACT government deliver a broad-based urban renewal process for Woden town centre that includes actions on community facilities, recreation facilities, the renewal of public areas and the attraction of jobs to the town centre. The report follows that up with recommendation 13, specifically dealing with unsafe buildings, and a series of recommendations about community faculties.

Recommendation 20 recommends that the ACT government develop and fund a long-term plan for community and recreation facilities in the Woden town centre, incorporating a community hub. The committee gave more detail about this with recommendations 14 and 15, which dealt with the proposal to rezone Arabanoo Park.

Recommendation 21 talks about the need to reserve a large, flexible site in Woden suitable for future community, tertiary education or recreational uses, such as an indoor sports facility or a CIT facility. In recommendation 20, the committee noted the AMC Architecture study and report into community facilities for the Woden town centre and recommended that the government should consider this as part of the solution to the lack of community facilities. Recommendations 16 and 17 aim to protect the existing pocket park on Furzer Street and the landscape area along Matilda Street by rezoning both of them to urban open space.

Recommendations 18, 30 and 31 all deal with better connectivity for pedestrians and bike riders both within the centre and actually accessing Woden town centre, which is effectively walled off by very fast roads.

Recommendation 19 was that the ACT government create greater capacity for social, educational, recreational and cultural facilities in Woden, in order to prevent it from becoming a dormitory suburb. This was in response to what I heard as the united


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