Canberra Services Club site on Manuka Circle. Photos: Ian Bushnell.
The Canberra Services Club has won its long battle to relinquish its concessional lease over its Manuka Circle site, which has lain empty since the 2011 blaze that razed its single-storey premises.
This will pave the way for the club to return to the site and rebuild, which at this stage would be a seven-storey building with hotel accommodation on the upper levels and club facilities below.
The club revealed these plans when it reactivated its application to deconcessionalise last year.
The Territory Planning Authority (TPA) released two Notices of Decision on Tuesday – for the Manuka Circle site and the Barton premises at 51 Blackall Street.
The club first proposed to change its Manuka Circle lease in 2018 to either sell or redevelop the CZ6 – Leisure and Accommodation zoned site. However, it ran into community opposition over the expected windfall gain it would enjoy and loss of community space.
In 2019, Planning Minister Mick Gentleman rejected the proposal saying it was not in the public interest. This was overturned in the Supreme Court on procedural grounds.
But the application lay idle until last year.
It was referred to Chief Minister Andrew Barr, standing in for Planning Minister Chris Steel, who decided on 2 May that it was in the public interest for the TPA to assess the application.
Another view of the Manuka Circle site showing one of the signs the club has placed around the block.
General manager Vaughan Welch said the club was ecstatic at the news.
“It has been a long time coming,” he said. “There’s been a lot of work put in by the board and many people. We’re just excited to get to the next stage.”
Mr Vaughan said the land would now need to be valued by the club for the lease variation charge to be calculated and paid out.
He said the plan was still to develop a new club facility on the site and a hotel above with an eye to providing accommodation for visitors to Canberra attending major sports events at the adjacent Manuka Oval.
But Mr Welch could not say when a development application could be submitted.
Community groups have always been wary of the club’s plans, but Mr Welch said he believed the community wanted to see something back on the site.
“We’ll continue to work with the community on everything moving forward,” he said.
But Venues ACT also has concerns about new multi-storey accommodation close to Manuka Oval.
In a submission last year, it listed the late finish times of events, impacts on noise and lighting requirements, traffic management during major events, and overshadowing.
Mr Welch said the club would have to tackle that as it proceeded.
The club has 28 days from the decision date to provide a current valuation report to TPA.
The Manuka Circle land has signs installed to let the public know that a new Canberra Services Club is returning to the site in response to what the club says are false social media claims.
