On the 14th of February over 200 Yarralumla and Deakin residents packed the Yarralumla primary school hall to listen to speakers from both the Yarralumla and Deakin Residents Associations and Richard Johnston and Albert Obderdorf who have a planning background, on how the impacts of the proposed new planning framework.

The slide presentations from Dr. Diana Wright (YRA) and Dr. John Bell (DRA) and those of the invited speakers are on the YRA website — Presentations from Public Information Session.

A survey was conducted and

• 97.5% of those that attended the meeting did not support extensive high density, high rise, and densification of our suburbs as proposed by the ACT Government.
  • The scale of the development proposed is seen as excessive with some 30 %to 50% of the suburb becoming 3-6+ storey apartments. This will change the character of our suburb forever.
  • All of this is to developments at the Yarralumla Brickworks and CSIRO Forestry redevelopments.

• The proposed new planning framework will impact existing tree canopy cover and create urban heat islands (all in a period of significant climate change).

 The community has until 3 March 2023 to submit views on the proposed new planning framework. The DRA committee believes residents should submit their own views to supplement those of the committee.

The outcomes and issues discussed at the 14 February meeting have also been posted to assist you in this process.