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Newsletter no.21 from Ald Anna Reynolds - August 2017
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Community interest in the future height and shape of Hobart city is strong and passionate – as are opinions about the Fragrance skyscraper proposals (like the one for Davey St, right).

Less well known, but no less important, is the potential impact of Hobart City Council’s proposed new rules for the height and character of the Central Business District (CBD).
 
Regardless of your opinion on the Fragrance holiday high-rise towers, they will be assessed using the rules set out in the Sullivans Cove Planning Scheme.

These are rules that provide strategic guidance on protecting heritage and preferred height limits in the area around the waterfront. 

The Council’s final decision on the towers will depend on the quality and clarity of the rule book for the area.

So when Council starts redesigning the rule book for a different part of the city, anyone interested in the future of Hobart needs to pay attention. 
Changing the rules for Hobart's heart

The Council has started the process of amending the rules for the 2015 Interim Hobart City Planning Scheme that guide and regulate development of the CBD.  These proposed rule changes for the CBD zone will not affect or influence the assessment of the Fragrance Hotel proposals (which are outside this CBD zone). They may however have a big impact on height and heritage in another large part of the city for decades to come. 

The changes have been informed by the 'Leigh Woolley Report' which describes new ‘townscape’ concepts for our planning toolbox, that can be considered when assessing a tall building. Some of these new definitions are 
helpful, and add to the other tools we already have.
 
However, there are other changes being proposed that signal a concerning change of strategic direction for the development of Hobart’s heart.

 
For example, the new Desired Future Character Statement endorsed by Council sets a vision for the CBD, to help planners make judgements and sort out arguments in the courts. But the proposed vision does not mention the word ‘heritage’ once. Why not say something like “heritage is integral to our townscape and character”?

The Statement also proposes a new zone of increased building intensification in the eight CBD blocks bounded by Murray, Macquarie, Melville and Argyle Streets.

This new proposed 'zone of intensification' is a significant shift to allow for a high-rise CBD in Hobart. The planning rule changes suggest this new zone should “evolve as a defined (conical) expression of built intensity when viewed from beyond".
Council proposes to attach Mr Woolley's report to the amendments so it becomes an official part of the planning rules.

This would include the diagrams suggesting much taller buildings and guidance notes that "a maximum height datum of 75m is recommended."

Do we want a taller CBD?
The
2016 Palace Hotel proposal (left) was for a 73 metre building in Elizabeth St. Will the new zone of built intensity see more buildings of this scale in the CBD?
Is this the new vision of Hobart's CBD? The 'red bubble' is a diagram (from Leigh Woolley's report for Hobart City Council) that expresses the proposed new future for our CBD - a vision of more building intensity and taller buildings. This will become Hobart's planning law if the Council's proposed amendments to the planning scheme go through unchanged. (The 'Height Standards Performance Criteria Review Report' by Leigh Woolley is a 23Mb pdf file that can be downloaded here.)
My concern with these planning scheme changes is the strategic shift they signal - away from our heritage and human-scale CBD - towards one of taller towers, shaded and windy streets, elevated property values, and pressure to remove the heritage we still have.

The new rules and height guidelines will inevitably shift the focus away from our heritage buildings and the current 'defacto' height limit (the 45 metre preferred building envelope).

Inevitably the new criteria will provide a guide for property developers on how they can get taller buildings at a new maximum height limit through the Council process.

A city that's nervous about giant Fragrance towers may feel somewhat relieved by talk of CBD heights that don't sound quite as big, but these changes still start from a view of "well, we must have high-rise somewhere".

But why? There are so many opportunities for exciting, modern, medium density, 'human scale' development of our city - on Macquarie Point, in the area between the CBD and North Hobart (currently dominated by car yards) and along the rail line between the waterfront and Glenorchy.

For our CBD, I would like to see a maximum height limit that reflects the existing 45 metre height rule and reduces the discretion in approving proposals, as well as more proactive planning for restoring, reusing and revamping our heritage precincts. Hobart's CBD has some amazing heritage streetscapes and precincts, but many are hidden, dowdy and neglected - our planning laws are not effective enough.

If these current amendments become law, I fear the experience of our CBD will change - heritage will be even less prominent and under more pressure from an expectation of taller buildings.
 
If you're concerned about these amendments and have changes to suggest, it's very important that you have your say! You have until 1 SEPTEMBER to send your comments (known as 'representations') to the Hobart City Council. All the relevant documents, and how to lodge your comments, can be found 
here. Please email me if you'd like a copy of my submission.
Visionary Street Tree Strategy
 
52 percent of Hobart streets have no trees at all and more than a third of the street trees that we do have are classed as 'small'.
 
As Chairperson of the Parks Committee, I have been pushing for a new 
Street Tree Strategy for the city for a number of years. Last month Council signed off on a great new way forward to fix our denuded streets.
 
Our new Strategy will deliver a 40% canopy cover in the City’s urban areas in less than 30 years, up from the current canopy level of 16%. It sounds like a long time but increasing the canopy cover in our city will take time - it’s hard to speed up how fast trees grow!

Take-away plastic ban

Recently Council agreed to introduce a new by-law by 2020 to ban single use plastic takeaway containers. This will be a really helpful step to reduce waste and plastic litter getting into the environment.
 
W
e also need, as a matter of priority, to develop a facility for composting the compostable containers that will replace the plastic ones that we ban! 
 

Currently we don't have the capacity to compost our compostable packaging in Hobart, nor do we have a collection service (except for one-off events like the Taste)...so the compostable packaging, while less toxic than plastic, is just going into landfill.
 
I was alerted to this gap by a number of the 'early movers' in the city – these are the business owners of cafes, like Jono from 
Altas Espresso. He's using the compostable containers right now, but Council does not provide a collection and composting service. Even if keen business owners like Jono take the containers up to McRobies Gully themselves, we do not have a facility to process them!

That’s why I'm also very keen that we develop a food waste composting facility as soon as possible, because this is what we need to ensure that our ban on plastic containers will lead to less waste to landfill. I’m confident that the Council will develop and roll out a foodwaste / compostables service before 2020, because it's a crucial step in meeting our zero waste strategy.
 
Once we have a food waste processing service we will also need new city-wide compostable material bins in our city streets and parks - so there is much to be done between now and 2020 when we introduce this new by-law.
 
Some people argue that plastic containers are not our biggest litter or waste problem. They cite the 
2015/16 Keep Australia Beautiful National Litter Index, which found that of the litter items audited in Hobart, only 2.4% were plastic spoons/cutlery, straws, and plastic takeaway containers and cups. 
 

But the devastating global impact of plastic pollution on the marine environment is a big issue, and local governments can educate the community and take a lead for others to follow. 
Awesome adventure playground coming soon

Rock climbing walls, rope ladders, lookouts, mini-abseiling, wobble boards, water play, a caves maze and even an echo chamber!  We are building an awesome new nature playground on the Queens Domain that will be ready in early 2018.

The designs for this new playground were informed by ideas from Hobart’s children, an approach we are taking with most of our playground developments. Please 
email me for a copy of the plans, if you'd like a better look at what's in store.
Cable Car Facilitation Bill

The City of Hobart made a submission on the State Government's Cable Car Facilitation Bill, raising some of our concerns with this process and potential new law, including that:
 
“The Bill fails to recognise the social, cultural and economic value to the State of
kunanyi/ Mount Wellington and further fails to recognise the significant contribution of both local government landholders and the Wellington Park Management Trust in managing the whole of the Park area."

“The underlying theme of the legislation and the processes therein suggest that
kunanyi/Mt Wellington is the equivalent of land able to be accessed as if for a below ground mining lease, rather than a landform that has multiple environmental, social and cultural values.”

You can read the whole submission 
here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
 

>> Local Area Traffic Management consultations

How would you like to see Hobart manage neighbourhood streets? Lower speeds? More crossings? Have your say at a number of meetings across the city.

Monday 21 August 2017 (6 pm to 7.30 pm) - at Derwent Sailing Squadron (Marieville Esplanade, Sandy Bay), for the Battery Point, Sandy Bay, Dynnyrne and Mount Nelson representatives.
 
Tuesday 22 August 2017 (6 pm to 7.30 pm) - at the South Hobart Living Arts Centre (408 Macquarie Street, South Hobart), for the South Hobart, Fern Tree and West Hobart representatives.
 
Wednesday 23 August 2017 (6 pm to 7.30 pm) - at St Giles (11a Gant Street, Lenah Valley), for the New Town, Lenah Valley, Mount Stuart, North Hobart and Glebe representatives.

>> New Town Local Shopping Street revamp
>> Community forum


Thursday 24 August (6–8 pm) Sacred Heart College. What great ideas have you got to make New Town's neighbourhood and shopping strip a more people-friendly and distinctive community hub? 

If you can’t make the meeting, you can have your say online, where you can also find background information about the project.

The proposed 'area of built intensity' over 8 city blocks, from the Woolley Report
 


 






 







 



 
Atlas Espresso has taken the initiative to use compostable cups and collect them, in the absence of a Council service.


 
Thanks to all the school students who wrote letters supporting this Council bylaw.



 




 

 










 



 
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I'd love to hear your ideas and opinions, and receive your feedback on Council decisions.

Email me at
ald.reynolds@hobartcity.com.au
Call me on 0423222149
Write to me at Town Hall, Macquarie Street, Hobart 7001.
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PREVIOUS EDITIONS:
Newsletter 1 (Jan 2015)
Newsletter 2 (Feb 2015)
Newsletter 3 (April 2015)
Newsletter 4 (May 2015)
Newsletter 5 (July 2015)
Newsletter 6 (August 2015)

Newsletter 7 (October 2015) - street planning
Newsletter 8 (December 2015) - affordable housing
Newsletter 9 (February 2016) - bushfires and urban bushland
Newsletter 10 (February 2016) - traffic congestion special
Newsletter 11 (April 2016) - what are Aldermen there for?
Newsletter 12 (June 2016) - Council/Senate newsletter
Newsletter 14 (August 2016) - woodchip trucks through the CBD?
Newsletter 15 (September 2016) - SOS and South Hobart development
Newsletter 16 (November 2016) - 'biggering' Hobart
Newsletter 17 (January 2017) - issues to watch this year
Newsletter 18 (March 2017) - cable car and kunanyi
Newsletter 19 (May 2017) - landlord approval and significant trees
Newsletter 20 (June 2017) - Codes of Conduct, tunnel vision, Odeon Theatre


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Anna Reynolds · Town Hall · Hobart, Tas 7000 · Australia

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