The ACT Auditor-General has released a significant report identifying flaws in the system of approval and certification of building development applications for single-unit dwellings – suburban houses. The report was undertaken following public controversy over the construction of a house on Gawler Crescent that had been wrongly assessed by a certifier as exempt from the need to lodge a Development Application.

Deakin Residents’ Association was one of the complainants, though the Auditor-General’s report was at the request of the house owner who sought to clear his name from allegations made on the RiotACT website, not by DRA.

The Canberra Times’ summarises the findings of the Auditor-General, with a raft of recommendations for improving accountability of developers and building certifiers. These findings are similar to recommendations DRA has made in submissions to the ACT Government, focussing on transparency.

The media release of the Auditor-General’s report is here, and here is the full report in a zip archive.

The Summary pages give a quick digest, and several case studies are examined, including the Gawler Crescent case in Deakin.

UPDATE: DRA Committee meeting on 5 June 2014 has agreed that DRA will write to Minister Corbell urging quick implementation of all recommendations.

The Land Development Agency has announced its revised Yarralumla Brickworks re-development proposal (see Canberra Times report).

It involves some 1,600 residential units of varying heights, with 400 on the Deakin side of Adelaide Avenue, west of Kent Street. The proposal envisages that these would be up to 8 stories in height. The project is expected to take 8-10 years to completion.

Many residents were unsatisfied with the lack of detail provided by LDA at its drop-in information session at the Brickworks site in Denman Street on Saturday 31 May. There will also be consultation on individual proposals as they emerge once the overall plan has been approved.

DRA is liaising with Yarralumla Residents Association and the Inner South Canberra Community Council to ensure that the ACT Government applies proper planning principles to this development and does not compromise the future quality of Canberra for the short-term cash gains from one-off land sales.

Details of LDA proposals can be viewed at this link.

When complete the entire development will house some 4,000 residents – it is effectively a new, dense suburb larger in population than either Yarralumla (pop. 2,907 at last census) or Deakin (pop. 2,783).

There are some key issues for residents:

• Community services – there doesn’t appear to be any allowance for schools, shops, etc. Unless fully addressed, this will put major pressure on those facilities in Yarralumla and Deakin.
• Traffic issues – there are already significant traffic problems with Kent/Novar Streets and these will be exacerbated unless dealt with.
• Adelaide Avenue bus stop – it is proposed that an amount of $3 million will be invested in a bus stop on Adelaide Avenue at Kent Street (in line with the bus stops study undertaken by ACTPLA in 2012).

We encourage you to participate in the community consultation day, and to provide comments then, and/or as part of the community consultation that follows.

The closing date for public comment is 14 July 2014, leaving little time for proper analysis and response.

DRA plans to make a submission. Join Deakin Residents Association and assist us with input to this important process.

ACT Planning and Land authority has invited comment on a plan to build a terrace of seven townhouses on the north side of Gawler Crescent, near the corner of Hopetoun Circuit. The townhouses would replace two existing houses with the two sections being consolidated. Plans show off-street parking for fourteen cars.

Click here for streetscape views from the application.

This is the first instance of density higher than dual-occupancy on the east side of Hopetoun Circuit. The blocks on both sides of Hopetoun Circuit between Adelaide Avenue and Stonehaven Crescent are already zoned to permit this kind of densification, subject to planning reviews.

We encourage residents to take up the invitation to view and comment on the development application, and to be in touch with Deakin Residents’ Association if you have concerns you would like to raise. Comments close on 12 June 2014.

Inner south community organisation representatives, including DRA President Peter Wurfel, met with ACT Government officials from Roads ACT and Parking Operations to discuss the flow-on to surrounding suburbs of the introduction of pay parking in the Parliamentary Triangle.

For Deakin residents the key issue is the potential for commuters to seek free parking in streets adjoining the Parliamentary Triangle, together with lack of enforcement of illegal parking.

The map highlights in cyan those streets where it is proposed that additional parking restrictions could be needed. In Deakin, these are Melbourne Avenue, National Circuit, Canterbury Crescent and Daly Street. DRA has also asked them to look at Grey Street (parallel to Adelaide Avenue, next to the Prime Minister’s Lodge) which already is congested with visitor and all-day parking associated with the Lodge, the Italian Embassy, and the Girls Grammar junior school. Other streets may also be affected over time.

A letter box drop is expected in May, and implementation should occur in June.
Noting the lax enforcement of current parking restrictions, we have sent a budget proposal to the ACT Government requesting funding for more parking inspectors to be in place to meet the expected needs. The outcome of this will be known when the ACT Budget is delivered in June.

DRA expressed the view that illegal parking is not taken seriously enough, especially with the recent introduction of new parking restrictions around the grammar school environs. Parking Operations response is that they are actively working in conjunction with AFP to address this (obviously within current resources), and monitoring has been occurring. We encourage residents to let us know of any concerns on this issue so that we may keep the government informed.

UPDATE 9 May 2014

The ACT Government’s decision to withdraw the Bill can be seen as a validation of effective coordination among resident and community groups. Resistance is not always futile!

ORIGINAL POST
DRA has been working actively with other community representative groups in the ACT to respond to the ACT Government’s attempt to introduce radical changes to the consultation and appeal processes of the ACT planning system, in the form of the Planning and Development (Project Facilitation) Amendment Bill 2014. This Bill is currently before the Legislative Assembly.

The Bill would give a planning minister the power to designate “Special Projects” and “Special Precincts” which would be exempt from some of the current planning criteria (eg Heritage and Tree Preservation requirements).

Concerns were canvassed within the Deakin Residents Assocation, and further discussed with other Inner South groups under the Inner South Canberra Community Council, and on 3 May discussed at a session of the Combined Community Councils (CCC) of the ACT, comprising resident and community groups from every part of Canberra.

Following that meeting the Convenor of the CCC, Tom Anderson, wrote letters to the Chief Minister and other senior politicians expressing a consensus of concerns held by all residents representative groups.

In summary, the Combined Community Councils made eight points:

1. The Bill would not stimulate the local economy and could do irreparable harm to Canberra’s planning. It should be withdrawn in favour of a better overall strategic/operational planning approach.
2. If the Bill proceeds, any declared “Special” projects or precincts should be for a limited period with a sunset clause.
3. Better definitions are required for “substantial public benefit” and “of major significance”.
4. The focus should be on fast-track approval only of exceptional projects rather than conferring a blanket discretion on the relevant Minister.
5. Appeals to ACAT must remain an option, as the costs of Supreme Court Appeals are prohibitive for most stakeholders.
6. The proposed Bill dramatically reduces the requirements on developers for public consultation and accountability.
7. Heritage Protection and Tree Protection must not be overridden.
8. A public consultation period of 60 days should be available before any declaration can be made.

The outcome of Legislative Assembly processes remains unclear, since an Assembly committee failed to produce a common report on these issues.

Community councils continue to call on elected representatives of all parties to ensure a proper balance between economic objectives and broader community expectations of development goals.

On 20th March DRA President Peter Wurfel and Secretary Richard Thwaites had a meeting with the new CEO of the National Capital Authority, Malcolm Snow. Mr Snow has been making a point of meeting with residents representative groups across Canberra as part of his familiarisation.

Mr Snow has a personal professional connection with Deakin. As a young town planner with ACTPLA he was responsible for the planning of the West Deakin National Institution precinct, between Kent Street and the Mint area.

DRA reps noted that direct NCA responsibility may only apply to specific areas of Deakin such as Adelaide Avenue, The Lodge, and State Circle. However we found that Mr Snow was receptive to our concerns about the effect on Deakin of developments in National areas including the Parliamentary Triangle. Topics we raised, with Mr Snow’s response, are:

General population growth of Canberra, including potentially large numbers at Molonglo, Yarralumla Brickworks and urban intensification, placing more pressure on Deakin traffic and facilities
Streets (Grey Street, Gawler Crescent, Hopetoun Circuit, Macgregor Street, Stonehaven Crescent, Strickland Crescent and Kent Street) because of increasing levels of commuter traffic (employees, shoppers, students) accessing the Parliamentary Triangle, Manuka, etc.

• Malcolm Snow agreed that the respective roles of the NCA and the ACT Government would benefit from greater clarification, and he hoped to ensure better coordination between the two authorities so that resident issues were not overlooked. He agreed that a better balance between public transport and private vehicle dependence was needed to go along with densification of inner suburbs.

Intensification and paid parking in the Parliamentary Triangle. DRA raised the impact on surrounding suburbs of paid parking and increased building over previously-available parking sites in the Triangle.

• Mr Snow recognised the issue and indicated he was already seeking ways to improve public transport for workplaces within the Triangle, including perhaps a Civic-Manuka shuttle service. Public/private partnerships might offer some opportunities to provide services co-located with pay parking, to reduce need for daytime car access. Enforcement issues are outside NCA control, however.

Adelaide Avenue is a “Main Avenue”, covered by a Development Control Plan (DCP), but recent developments appear to be inconsistent with the DCP, and our experience is that NCA has been silent on ACTPLA/NCA consultation with respect to adherence to the DCP.
There are major emerging issues include proposed bus stops (for access to faster, more efficient public transport) and the inevitable growth of Canberra and the Parliamentary Triangle.

• Mr Snow recognised that the Adelaide Avenue DCP and the current state of developments on that corridor are less than optimal, and would hope to achieve better coordination in future.

Diplomatic estates. What is the future of diplomatic leases currently in Canberra, with the Parliamentary enquiry now finalised?

• Mr Snow expects that a comprehensive policy will be developed with respect to location of future embassies before the end of this year, taking into consideration the outcomes of the recent Parliamentary enquiry.

National Heritage Listing for all of Canberra and potential relevance to Deakin.

• Mr Snow was unaware of the proposal for National Heritage Listing for Canberra, and we offered to provide him with a website link to this. We noted that it was especially important to link this in with our own suburb precinct codes.

Residents and home-buyers in many parts of Canberra have raised concerns with the Government about lack of confidence that building certifiers are adequately qualified for the tasks with which they are entrusted, or that they can be relied upon to act in the interests of consumers when they are selected and paid by builders or sellers’ agents.

In response, the government commissioned a consultancy report, and launched an open Consultation on Construction Industry Practitioners.

DRA has made a formal submission to this inquiry, with extensive local consultation among our members and committee. Our key points in summary are:

1. Accreditation need to be reviewed to ensure certifiers have appropriate skills for all situations, and carry the onus of bringing in additional advice where needed for special situations.
2. Certifiers should be subject to a requirement for continuous professional development with regard to both technical and regulatory dimensions of their responsibilities.
3. Monitoring and review have been inadequate and require the proper level of resources to be applied, as well as a targeted risk management program set around open criteria.
4. Credible penalties for poor performance, and redress for residents affected by those poor outcomes, including third parties, are essential to support public confidence in the building certification regime.

Read DRA’s full Submission on Building Certifiers