The two 13-storey towers proposed in the first stage of Geocon’s plans for the Phillip pool site. Image: Cox Architecture.
Geocon’s redevelopment of the site of the Phillip Swimming and Ice-Skating Centre has been put “on pause” for a second time by the planning authority.
Geocon has lodged a development application (DA) with the Territory Planning Authority to build, during the first stage, two 13-storey residential towers comprising 286 units on the site of Woden’s 50-metre outdoor pool.
To meet the government’s lease requirements, the ground floor will also include a new public aquatic centre with a 25-metre lap pool, as well as a café, splash pad, learn-to-swim area and outdoor water play area.
Eventually, the developer wants to have a total of 696 units on the site, over three stages.
Its first DA was paused in February this year, with Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) highlighting potential traffic issues and the Conservator of Flora and Fauna noting some of the trees slated for removal don’t meet the criteria.
Geocon was asked to head back to the drawing board and reduce the height of its buildings to ensure each unit meets sunlight access and privacy standards.
Another round of objections to Geocon’s second DA, released by the Planning Authority this week, includes more responses by TCCS and the Conservator, as well as the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Icon Water, and Planning and Urban Policy.
They say the number of units per floor is “well in excess of the recommended number” for buildings of four or more storeys, with some floors set to house up to 13 units.
The pool as it stands today. Photo: Geocon.
They also suspect Geocon might be trying to “maximise the pool area” through a “complicated and non-compliant waste management system” where it’s not clear how exhaust gases from the pool and commercial areas of the development will be redirected away from the units.
Other concerns focus on how the “deep-set nature of the apartment units” might impact natural light making its way into kitchens and bedrooms, and how, in many of the unit designs, toilets are located “directly off kitchens”.
Many of the balcony spaces also “directly face each other with limited separation, resulting in privacy issues”.
Geocon has 18 months to respond to the Territory Planning Authority, after which the DA will lapse.
Meanwhile, Planning Minister Chris Steel has released the government’s response to a petition to “Save Phillip Pool” that garnered over 4000 signatures from people wanting the existing 50-metre outdoor pool to be spared.
This asked the government to “retain and upgrade the existing Phillip Swimming & Ice-Skating Centre until a new ice rink is built and a 50-metre pool and associated aquatic and green spaces are available in the Woden Town Centre”.
Mr Steel reiterated that Geocon’s plans to build a new 25-metre pool as part of a wider aquatic facility met the site’s “recreational” lease requirements and it would be up to the Territory Planning Authority to sign off on the DA or not.
Protests against Geocon’s plans have been ongoing for years. Photo: Louise Raisin.
“There is currently no legislative avenue for the Authority to require the proponent to retain the existing 50-metre pool or ice-skating rink or require the development to pause until a new facility is available in the Woden Town Centre,” he wrote.
He also said Canberra is set to receive a new ice-skating rink in Tuggeranong, thanks to a $16.25 million deal with Cruchan Investments and Pelligra Holdings to construct ‘Canberra Arena’.
“Cruachan and Pelligra have commenced preliminary planning and design work for the new facility in Tuggeranong.”
Geocon was contacted for comment.
