THE President of the Yarralumla Residents Association, Marea Fatseas, says a close look “under the hood” of the revised Canberra Brickworks and Environs Development Strategy reveals alarming plans to flatten the landscape from the approach route to Government House right across to the Brickworks. This will devastate a huge area, in a proposed development bigger than Kingston Foreshore.
“The ACT Government has addressed some community concerns about previous plans, including by reinstating the Mint Interchange to address traffic issues, but the changes do not go far enough. Its Land Development Agency (LDA) seems intent on environmental vandalism to impose its grid design on the landscape, and must still address other major community impacts of the development,” Marea says.
“Buried deep in its SMEC consultant’s report on traffic, transport and infrastructure (page 53) is a reference to a massive “cut-and-fill” of 215,000 cubic metres. This would remove up to 7 metres off the top of forested ridges around Dunrossil Drive that separate South Canberra and Woden, and across to the Brickworks, and fill low-lying areas to Cotter Road and Adelaide Avenue.
“The LDA plans to destroy the landscape to impose a design completely out of character with the suburb. It plans to do this so that it can cram in a population of over 3000, equivalent to Yarralumla’s existing population. The planned density is too high, about three times the density of the current suburb, and more appropriate for a town centre scale development that can supply the needed community services. Surely we should expect better urban design in the 21st century.”
Yarralumla residents met last Saturday, March 14 to discuss the revised LDA plan. They called for a rethink of the urban design, and more Government action to address the development’s impacts on traffic, existing street networks and parking in Yarralumla and surrounding suburbs, and on highly valued urban open space. They supported the primacy of the Brickworks in any planning, reduced building density, retention of highly used walking trails, and connectivity between natural parklands rather than the LDA’s planned isolated formal parks.
Meeting participants agreed to establish a working group to consider alternative planning approaches for the area, focusing on the Brickworks as the core element, and to continue strengthening alliances with other stakeholders across Canberra. There was also support for considering an appropriate strategy in the lead up to the next ACT election in 2016.
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