Height limits move bagged

Property Council questions move

ANY Hobart City Council move to implement a 45-metre height limit on buildings would make little sense because there are already a lot of structures above that height, the Property Council of Australia says.

Hobart aldermen will on Monday vote on whether to instruct officers to look at setting a non-discretionary maximum of 45 metres in the City of Hobart Interim Planning Scheme, Central Business, Commercial and Urban Mixed Use zones.

A cap of 18 metres would also be issued for the Sullivans Cove Planning Scheme.

Property Council of Australia’s Tasmanian executive director Brian Wightman said the move didn’t make sense.

“Considering K Block at the Royal Hospital has already been approved at approximately 68 metres, how does an absolute maximum limit of 45 metres, without discretion, make any sense at all?” he said.

There also were other key issues which needed to be addressed, he said.

“We also look forward to them [Hobart aldermen] explaining how an absolute limit of 45 metres, without discretion, will impact potential investment such as affordable housing, student accommodation, inner-city residential living, a research precinct and/ or further extensions to the hospital in the future,” he said.

The proposal — a result of a motion from Ald Helen Burnet — comes despite a number of developments exceeding the existing height limit being approved by the council in recent years.

Under the existing scheme, buildings exceeding the height limit in Hobart can be still approved if they meet certain criteria, such as if they are found to provide an overriding economic benefit.

Also exceeding 45 metres in the city are developments such as the Myer/Crowne Plaza Hotel (53m) and the Palace Hotel (63m).

Ald Burnet said there were a lot of people in Hobart who were concerned at how the discretions had been used in the past. “This is a really critical time when you consider how this very elastic interpretation [of the discretion] has been used,” she said.

In June, urban design expert Leigh Woolley delivered a report to the council recommending that future building projects in Hobart’s city centre should be restricted to 75 metres in height and not block views of Mt Wellington.