Expert panel saves time and angst
We already have a Hobart panel but a few developers push too far,
HOBART already has a development assessment panel, set up by the City of Hobart in 2011. Members include experts in architecture, planning, landscaping, all high-quality urban design experts. It’s called the Urban Design Advisory Panel.
Major projects in the City of Hobart are reviewed by this panel, before a development application is lodged, and after as well. The panel’s analysis of the proposed development, and its recommendations, are part of the documentation sent to the city’s planning staff and council.
A good example was the proposed Welcome Stranger development. The panel met with the proponents before the development application was lodged, and gave lots of advice. They met again to review the application, noted that their previous advice had been ignored, and recommended refusal. Their reasons were clearly documented. Following this, the planning officers reviewed the application and also recommended refusal. The council refused, and this was supported by the appeals tribunal (RMPAT).
How much time, effort and angst would have been saved if proponents paid attention to the expert advice from the panel? How much happier would the people of Hobart be if an appropriate development had been proposed?
The current planning system is trusted and works well. A small number of developers have pushed the boundaries too far, causing all the problems. In the meantime, many development applications have been approved. Cranes are prominent on Hobart’s skyline.
At the council meeting on May 18, 2020, the council rightly supported its planning staff and resolved, in a submission to the Tasmanian Government, that the City of Hobart, both planning officers and council, see no need for the proposed Major Projects Bill to introduce a new major projects assessment process.
On September 19, 2017, Peter Gutwein, then planning minister, made a clear principled statement that building heights were for the people of Launceston and Hobart to determine when he said in Parliament, “In regard to what has occurred in Hobart, I do not support skyscrapers, but it is not for me to call them in. It is for local government to utilise the tools available for them, which this Government has made available to enable them to manage the way these things develop.”
On June 15, 2018, thenPremier Will Hodgman wrote, in an email to HnH, “Hobart is a low-rise city and should remain that way … with the Hobart City Council having the ability to put a sensible and practical hard ceiling on maximum building heights.”
On March 4, 2019, Minister Roger Jaensch wrote, “I recommend the council to defer consideration of any CBD building height limits until we have explored the potential for a collaborative, strategic planning response in the context of the Hobart City Deal. The Tasmanian Government would be able to facilitate this as required.”
The State Government is now veering down a new track, discarding the current trusted system, and replacing it with the development industry’s dream system. The proposed Major Projects legislation is full of flaws and should be discarded.