Village plans in balance

THE owners of an Eastern Shore retirement village want to expand but are facing an uphill battle with council after the land their current development is located on was rezoned between planning schemes.

An application will be considered by Clarence City Council tonight for a planning amendment and a permit for an expansion of the Clarence Lifestyle Village on the East Derwent Highway at Risdon.

The existing village provides 114 independent living units for 165 residents, and the owners want to build another 53 units.

It is recommended by council staff not to initiate the draft amendment to the planning scheme, which would allow for the expansion.

In June 2010, the council approved the current development under the former Clarence planning scheme, which the Tasmanian Planning Commission later advised had a mistake in it when it allowed for community living on land zoned as “rural resource”, which was the case for that site.

“While the anomaly could have been addressed by either the TPC or council, the amendment was never initiated,” the council report said.

The land is now zoned for “rural living”, with community living banned, and the neighbouring land for the proposed expansion is sited outside the Urban Growth Boundary that controls where residential development can be built.

Clarence Lifestyle Village owner Craig Swan said two and a half years of work had gone into the plan at this stage and he had spoken to the planning minister’s office about the issue.

“The land is between us and the Discovery Caravan Park – in some ways it just makes sense to in-fill it,” he said.

“Word of mouth in Hobart is pretty good and so now 30 of the 53 new homes have got refundable paid deposits on them, so that tells us there is community need for this type of development.

“Not everyone can afford to go into $400-$500,000 retirement villages so we come in the $200,000s.”