This petition of certain residents of the Bellerive Retirement Village in the Australian Capital Territory draws to the attention of the Assembly that:
Draft Variations to the Territory Plan No. 344 have dismayed and angered Bellerive residents as, if implemented as proposed on Sections 3 and 10, Phillip; they will adversely impact on a number of residents by:
(a) depriving their units of sunlight for significant portions of the day and completely negating some of the environmental benefits of the solar panels on the rooves of residents, and
(b) failing to make allowance in the Plan for the lifestyle of residents in their 70s and older living opposite Sections 3 and 10 for some peace and quiet in the evenings in a complex completed just 30 months ago.
Your petitioners therefore request the Assembly to:
(a) take whatever steps are necessary to stop the draft variation to the Territory Plan No. 344 being adopted until the Standing Committee on Planning and Urban Renewal has had adequate time to assess the effects of the proposed variations on residents living in Melrose Drive opposite Sections 3 and 10;
(b) ensure the transition in building heights from the commercial centre to the lower-rise residential areas of Phillip espoused in the Woden Town Centre Master Plan of November 2015 are followed and the number of storeys of future developments on Melrose Drive opposite residential developments be set at 4 storeys with limits of 7 storeys and 16 storeys being set for developments as they occur further back from Melrose Drive, and
(c) request the Standing Committee on Planning and Urban Renewal as part of its current inquiry into Draft Variation No. 344 to examine the validity of the proposal to allow a marker building at the intersection of Launceston Street and Melrose Drive to indicate entry to the town centre and “help people orient themselves as they walk through the centre”; attractive signage or an item of public art, in the view of your petitioners, would be a much more effective message.