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Welcome to www.plan-inc.org
Thursday, September 09 2010 @ 07:35 AM MDT

Updated news on national urban planning, development assessment reforms and new national coastal alliance

Monday, December 28 2009 @ 05:37 AM MST
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 65

Welcome to Councillor News

December 16th, 2009

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CBD Height and Density - Question in Parliament

Saturday, June 13 2009 @ 08:04 PM MDT
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 208

Topic Date: 10/06/2009
Question No:
Question: Darwin CBD ? Building Permit System
Question Date: 10/06/2009
Member: Ms WALKER
To: MINISTER for PLANNING and LANDS
Other Speakers:
Status: Questions
Can you please update the House on what proposed changes to the Northern Territory permit scheme will mean to the Darwin CBD, and whether there have been any alternative policies put forward?

ANSWER

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question because, last month, I unveiled an exciting new plan for a vibrant tropical CBD for Darwin. The government went out and consulted with our community, and currently are also consulting with the community through the public exhibition phase. We want to ensure that our beautiful city remains tropical. We recognise that we have growth and population, and that people want to come and live in the CBD.

How do you actually ensure that that development maintains the characteristics that you want in a vibrant tropical city? We held a Darwin urban planning forum in conjunction with the Darwin City Council to really look at the Darwin urban planning issues. Coming out of that was that difficult issue of building heights in the CBD. It is an issue the CLP failed to tackle over years of government, but this government took up that tough issue.

We referred that to Urban Design Advisory Panel, a panel that exists only under a Labor government - they never had expert advisors in urban design including architects and town planners. The Urban Design Advisory Panel came forward with recommendations regarding building heights.

We went further than that. We put an IDCO in place to ensure that the recommendations were implemented to control the heights while we went back out again and consulted with the community on the UDAP recommendations. We put together a team to consult with the community and stakeholders. The team is lead ably by Dick Guit from Laing O?Rourke who I publicly thank for that effort on consultation. He is a busy man but he took the time out because he believes in the city and the future growth of Darwin. He worked with Rod Applegate from the Department of Planning and Infrastructure. They met and consulted widely, not just with landowners in the CDB but, also, with other stakeholders including the Planning Action Network. The recommendations that they brought back to government are now out on a statutory process to look at amendments to the Planning Scheme to incorporate the recommendations.

They go to a maximum building height of 90 m above ground level across the Darwin CBD. There are designs and volume metric control to promote breezes, light and views surrounding our beautiful harbour, to ensure that we also adopt a two-tiered building form, so we do not just get the block, straight-up buildings that we have seen in the past. There will also be a minimum 6 m set back on that second tier of the podium to ensure that we get the light, the breeze, and the views.

Other changes include a peer review by the Urban Design Advisory Panel to major developments being proposed. We believe that will ensure that those design elements are there to meet the communities? expectations. Regarding active interfaces at ground level - nothing mandated previously under the CLP - government is saying we want to see active interfaces at ground level, mandating awnings of all new buildings so that you can move through the city through shade and shelter from the rain, pretty obvious for a tropical city. Those proposed Planning Scheme amendments will be on public exhibition from Friday for 28 days.

In stark contrast to the government?s action on this important matter for our growing city, there has been a blank flip-flopping from the opposition. Now, the only public comment on this vital issue so far was from the member for Port Darwin who said he was against ?Soviet style architecture and ?

Mr Elferink: Yes, I am.

Members interjecting.

Madam SPEAKER: Order!

Ms LAWRIE: This is how bizarre they are, ?? wants buildings to be remarkable so that people look at them and say that is a good thing?. Well, if that is the best alternative planning policy the CLP can muster, well, it is amazing. A vague wish for remarkable buildings does not make a planning scheme amendment.

We all want strong architectural merit coming through on the building of our CBD. We want that strong architectural merit to reflect tropical design, which is why, for example, we are proposing mandating that peer review of buildings.

Mr Mills: Madam Speaker, this is a rather long answer.

Madam SPEAKER: Please pause, minister. If you could come to the point fairly soon, please.

Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, the Urban Design Advisory Panel, who consist of experts, when they saw what I as minister proposed to take out to public consultation, they said, ?This will deliver the tropical and better design outcomes that your growing city needs?.

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CBD Height and density

Saturday, June 13 2009 @ 07:43 PM MDT
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 87

Minister Lawrie has set in train a proposed amendment to the NT Planning Scheme to which we have twenty eight days to respond.

The proposal is to have a 90 metre limit on buildings throughout the whole CDB and provide no setbacks. Details are on the NT Planning Notice website. There is a history behind the proposed amendment, and there is a public groundswell against it.

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Submission on Lot 4128(121 Amy Johnson Drive D/A Crematorium

Friday, January 30 2009 @ 03:58 PM MST
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 257

Dear Friends,

This may be of interest to you in one way or another
Submission on Lot 4128 121 Amy Johnson Drive D/A Crematorium

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Community Alert

Tuesday, January 27 2009 @ 05:54 PM MST
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 168

Community Alert
Development Notice of a Crematorium
On the corner of Amy Johnson Avenue and McMillans Road
A furnace is to be built to cremate human remains at the above address with provision for a second cremator at a later date.
If your are concerned about having a cremator in our suburb or next door to our backyards, clubs and the Marrara Christian School:

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Flagstaff Park History

Monday, January 26 2009 @ 08:34 PM MST
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 216

With the assistance our our excellent state library here is some of the history of Flagstaff Park:
Here is the part where our government promises open space for all territorians:
Chief Minister Clare Martin and Lands and Planning Minister Kon Vatskalis today announced Lot 5180 will not be developed. Instead, it will be handed back to the people as a public park.

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Where is the PLan web site?

Sunday, January 18 2009 @ 02:08 AM MST
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 127

Where is the PLan web site?

This is the new PLan website. The old PLan website is available at www.plan-inc.org/index.php

See if you can join up on the new site and try submitting an article in the test area.

Regards

Nick Kirlew

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Flagstaff Park - is it a restaurant or not?

Sunday, January 18 2009 @ 12:59 AM MST
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 711

Flagstaff Park

On the drawings for Flagstaff Park consultation near item 14 there is a large shape almost as big as one of the Paspaley house blocks, what is this? PLan urge you make comment on the proposal which is being road showed at the moment.

In the spots for any comments please consider ?No Restaurants on public land?. After all the last time public consultations where taken on this area there was an interesting spin on the survey results ?

If you down load the information kit, note where the document identifies limited budget as one of the issues with the site, where you might ask did the money from Little Mindil go?

The email address for submissions is construction marketing which does worry a bit, marketing construction in a public park?

Nick Kirlew.

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Newsletter December 2008

Friday, December 26 2008 @ 08:47 PM MST
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 527

www.plan-inc.org
PO Box 2513, Darwin, NT;
PLan NEWSLETTER. DECEMBER, 2008

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Lyons 40 house blocks reduced setbacks

Sunday, October 26 2008 @ 03:54 PM MDT
Contributed by: planadmin
Views: 678

Margaret has been working on a Development Consent Authority application from the developer of Lyons. Bulk reduced setbacks are in our opinion a real steal from the public. 7.5 m was good enough for Darwin ....

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About PLan
PLan - the Planning Action Network Inc is a volunteer community group working for better urban and rural planning in the Northern Territory. PLan collaborates with resident and community groups on matters including: the built environment, heritage, cultural and environmental values of concern in the NT and Australia.

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