The proposed Kingston office development. Image: Hugh Gordon Architects.
An approved development application for a four-storey office block on community-zoned land in Kingston has been sent back to the Planning Authority for reconsideration after the local residents group appealed to ACAT over a scarcity of community space in the proposed development.
The proposal for 19 Giles Street, currently the site of a former child care centre, included space for a medical centre but most of the project was for offices.
CF Prime Pty Ltd, owned by reclusive developer Jae Choi, is behind the $13.7 million proposal, which also sought a lease variation limiting community use to ‘early childhood education and care’, and ‘health facility’.
The Kingston Barton Residents Group argued from the start that the DA should be refused saying there was no guarantee the development would ever have any community component, and there was little demand in Kingston for this kind of project.
Nonetheless, the Planning Authority approved it, only to be taken to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
After mediation, it was agreed that the matter go back to the Planning Authority and the proponent, through its representative Purdon, submit an amended DA, including a lease variation setting a minimum amount of community uses consisting of at least 50 per cent of the gross floor space.
KBRG president Richard Johnston said the approval did not auger well for the new outcomes based planning system.
He said the Planning Authority ignored the major intended ‘outcome’ of the land zoning – that the Community Facilities Zone should provide community facilities, not an office building with no requirement for community facilities.
“This is one of the first significant DAs under the wonderful new ‘outcomes-focused’ planning system and it gives no confidence that the new system is any improvement,” he said.
In its submission to ACAT, the residents group took issue with Purdon’s claim that there was an “all-time high demand for health care facilities” when there were already three well-established medical practices in Kingston.
It said there were also several other existing ‘office type’ buildings in Kingston, as well as an approved, but not yet constructed, four-storey office building on Giles Street, beside the former post office building.
“On the other hand there is now not a single ‘early childhood education and care’ facility in Kingston, following the closure of the Goodstart centre which operated from the subject site,” KBRG said.
It argued this site was now the only one available for a new ‘community use’ in Kingston and should be retained for the widest possible range of potential ‘community use’.
KBRG queried why other permissible uses had not been included in the lease such as ‘community activity centre’, ‘community housing’, ‘community theatre’, ‘cultural facility’, ‘educational establishment’, ‘indoor recreation facility’, ‘place of worship’, and ‘religious associated use’.
Other development types also permissible in the Community Facilities Zone include ‘residential care accommodation’, ‘retirement village’, ‘supportive housing’ and ‘veterinary clinic’.
The Planning Authority had sought evidence that the proposal complied with the community zoning policy outcomes but KBRG told the tribunal that “it did not appear to have questioned the adequacy of Purdon’s responses and to have undertaken any further assessment itself in regard to these critical matters”.
KBRG said the Planning Authority’s Notice of Decision was seriously deficient, including a lack of clarity over amendments, half of the representations being ignored, confusion about the amount of basement parking, vague conditions related to a lack of support from three agencies and the inclusion of ‘financial establishment’ even though this is not a permissible use in the Community Facility Zone.
Mr Choi bought the site for $3.97 million in August 2023.
