What is and what could be in Phillip. Image: Region.
Most people concede that the Phillip service precinct is tired and in need of renewal.
Businesses have closed, tenancies are vacant and community needs have changed.
But attempts to introduce new uses, including residential or commercial accommodation, have gone nowhere in recent years.
One such proposal had its day in the ACT Supreme Court, which handed down a decision this week.
The developer, Intellectual Property Group, has been wanting to redevelop a site in Botany Street, which at present is home to an undistinguished building with a couple of tenants, close to car yards and a few other small businesses.
The area itself would fall into the urban grunge category and needs some TLC.
IPG first proposed a four-storey plus attic, mixed-use residential building, then switched to serviced apartments with a pub, restaurant and espresso bar on the ground floor.
But the plans failed to find favour with the Planning Authority, so IPG sought a review in ACAT, which gave it short shrift.
IPG appealed to the Supreme Court, which found a lack of procedural fairness on ACAT’s behalf and sent the matter back to the tribunal for a more extensive hearing.
All up, this has been going on for five years.
Without going into all the ins and outs of the DA and the Planning Authority’s reasons for knocking back the proposal, are IPG’s plans for the site so bad or out of kilter with the area that the project and new businesses that would flow from the development, and possibly help start a revitalisation of Phillip, should be stymied?
It is understood that architectural renders are not always accurate depictions, but who would deny that the proposed structure would not be an improvement on the current state of the site?
I have been visiting the Phillip service district for 30 years, and it reeks of decline and neglect.
Some fear that developments such as this would see the end of its service role for the Woden Valley, but some of that is already gone, and a new mix of businesses is required, not to mention some actual people living or staying there.
When IPG started its planning for the Botany Street site, it cleverly used the hook line ‘Braddon of the South’ to engender interest. That may have been a stretch, but the company no doubt saw an opportunity, believing the area was ripe for renewal.
Five years on, one wonders why it perseveres and doesn’t cut its losses.
This is what developers have been complaining about – that the road from proposing a project to approval and actual start is way too long and lined with frustration and escalating costs.
The new outcomes-based planning system and recent directorate changes are supposed to prevent this.
Surely the issues related to this proposal can be resolved, and the Planning Authority can be more open-minded about ‘suitable’ development ideas for an ageing district like this, which is so in need of them.
