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.