Category: Current Issues

Posts on currently active issues to which CRA is contributing, either wrt news dissemination or an active involvements.

Rally – 11am Saturday 21st January in Curtin Square

Please Walk or Bike to the rally  if you can – parking is always tight, and will be very challenged on Saturday.

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Save Curtin Square

Protest Rally

11am Saturday 21 January 2017

Come along to hear about the development application, show your concern, sign the petition and hear how to make a response or objection

The facts

• a development application has been lodged to build a large building right on the edge of Curtin Square• the building will be 6 storeys above the square—5 storeys of high-ceiling rental apartments (50) on top of a double-height (7m) retail ground floor

• it will be equivalent in height to a 8-storey building

• many existing shops have not been guaranteed space in the new building.

We say the risk to Curtin is too great

• the building is much too big for the square—we agree with the Curtin Draft Master Plan, which limits 2 storeys on the square, 4 storeys off the square• the building will greatly reduce sunlight into the square from early afternoon onwards for over half the year—autumn, winter and spring

• the building will make parking more difficult for shoppers and visitors to cafés, gym, dentist and doctor

• the 50 apartments will make traffic problems worse for shoppers and nearby residents

• we will lose shops that make Curtin Square a unique and interesting place with its own identity

• we risk losing Curtin’s strongest feature—its sense of community

• we are not against development, but this one is not right for the square.

CRA newsletter for January

The Curtin Residents Association newsletter for January describes what is proposed in the Development Application for Curtin Place, and why we object.

The most effective things to do are to come to the rally, and to submit your own objection to the Environment and Planning Directorate.  We will be posting some suggestions for objections soon. Closing date is 31 January.

The number of people at the rally will show the Minister the strength of our support for the Curtin square as a community facility.  See you at the Rally Saturday 21 January 11am in the Square – Save Curtin Square!

 

Newsletter Curtin Residents Assn 6Jan17

Meeting with the Planning Directorate

Meeting with the Planning Directorate of the ACT Government.

Following an exchange of letters with the Minister, and with the Minister’s encouragement, two Committee members from the Curtin Residents Association met with the Project Manager for the Curtin Group Centre Master Plan. The meeting was helpful in rounding out our understanding of the process by which a development proposal for 44 Curtin Place will be evaluated. As we understand the situation, the Government has yet to receive a proposal from the developer, although discussions between the Government and the developer are ongoing. Given the extensive planning and consultation captured in the Draft Master Plan, it would be appropriate if development proposals were to be evaluated against that Draft Plan. However, advice to the Committee is that, until the Plan is finalised, evaluation will be against the current, much less prescriptive, rules. Accordingly, we have written again to the Minister requesting that the Plan be finalised as soon as possible.

Questions on planning for Curtin shops sent to ACT Election Candidates

The following email was sent to Candidates in the Electorate of Murrumbidgee about the Proposed Development of 44 Curtin Place (Curtin Shops)

We are writing to you as a candidate for the seat of Murrumbidgee in the upcoming ACT election.

The Curtin Residents Association (CRA) is a recently established community group intended to support the Curtin community to maintain and enhance the qualities of the suburb. The CRA has been involved in discussion among Curtin residents on the Master Plan for the Curtin Group Centre being developed by the ACT Government.  I imagine you are aware that a draft Master Plan was released in November 2015 and that the final version is due to be approved after the election.

In recent months, the owners of one of the blocks of shops in the Curtin Centre (44 Curtin Place) have proposed replacing the existing single storey building with a multi-storey shopping and residential building.

The owners have undertaken consultations with Curtin residents including through a series of community meetings.  The CRA appreciates this consultative approach and acknowledges the owners’ long association with the Curtin Group Centre.

However, the CRA has concerns about some aspects of the proposal which are inconsistent with the recommendations of the draft Curtin Group Centre Master Plan.  There is also concern that the proposal may be lodged and assessed as a development application before the final Master Plan is issued and its key recommendations incorporated in the Territory Plan.  The 44 Curtin Place website envisages that demolition could start by October 2017.

We are seeking advice of election candidates as to their views.  The first of the two attached documents contains four questions on aspects of the proposal to develop 44 Curtin Place.  The second contains more detailed background on the proposal and CRA’s position with respect to it; the results of public consultations conducted in connection with the Curtin Group Centre Master Planning process; relevant suggestions and recommendations of the draft Master Plan; and about CRA itself.

We hope you will be able to provide us with answers to the questions in a form that would allow us to place them on the CRA website for Curtin residents, and the public more generally.  We think you will find answering the questions relatively easy.  Please contact us, however, if you would like to discuss any of the questions before answering them or

if you have any concern about your response being placed on our website.

We aim to start putting answers on our website from the beginning of October and we would ask for your response no later than Friday 7 October.

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Chris Johnson Honorary Secretary, Curtin Residents Association m 0401 498 684 e info@curtinresidents.asn.au w www.curtinresidents.asn.au

44 Curtin Place Proposal

The proposal to demolish and rebuild on 44 Curtin Place led to the developer organising three information sessions, a week apart, in June.  The sessions were well attended, particularly the third session as the word from the first two spread around the community.   The developers invited comments under the heading of “seeing if a trade-off” can be found between their proposal and community concerns, as expressed from the floor at the information sessions.  The CRA has emailed the developers with a list of concerns focussed on additional information and the level of assurances around solar access, height profiles of the proposed built form and public amenity issues such as parking and attention to public amenity.   The (draft) Curtin Group Master Plan is a reference for many residents and has formed the platform for discussions with the ACT Government as well as with the developer.   The outcome of these discussions will be posted on this site as various aspects are clarified.

 

Welcome

Curtin Residents Association, Inc.

Curtin Residents Association works to care for Curtin, organising community events and acting to make an even better place to live.

This is the CRA Home page. Scroll down for other recent information postings.
If you are a CRA member you can add a posting to the site by sending an email to info@curtinresidents.asn.au .

Curtin Residents Association  ABN 69 953 291 646

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