Homes above shops plan

Push for inner-city living to revive Burnie CBD

themercury.com.au

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CONVERTING empty buildings in Burnie’s shopping precinct to apartments is seen as a way to revive the city’s fortunes, a local councillor says.

Burnie councillor Ken Dorsey believes downtown living and changes to red tape to make it easier to turn empty floors into apartments would help ease Burnie’s housing crisis and breathe life back into the city. There are currently more than 20 empty shops in the CBD.

Cr Dorsey’s motion, to be debated at the next meeting, is for the council to tell the Planning Commission it wants to allow residential living in the CBD without a planning permit.

The change would apply to all floors of a building except street level. The motion also calls for developers to be excused from providing parking spaces for residents.

The latest housing data shows Burnie has the tightest private rentals market in the state, with a vacancy rate of 0.2 per cent.

At the same time, small retailers are shutting up shop and the CBD needs a kickstart.

“Councillors have on many occasions considered and suggested inner-city living as a means to add vitality and growth to the Burnie CBD,” Cr Dorsey said.

“Many of the buildings in town have empty second floors that could create village-type living in Burnie.

“This could be the impetus for growth and an alternative lifestyle that does not require regular use of a vehicle. People around the world live in innercity dwellings which do not provide parking.”

Burnie Mayor Steve Kons supports the motion, saying the provision of parking had long been a hindrance to residential development in Tasmanian cities.

“If we want to revitalise the CBD this is a great way of doing it. Some new apartments have recently been approved, but these changes would accelerate the trend,” Cr Kons said.

Cr Dorsey said discussions in the past about boosting inner-city living had faltered due to the need for any such development to provide adequate parking.

“There is an abundance of private and public parking in the CBD and it should be up to residents to fund their own parking by either renting parking off council or private facility,” he said.