News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[Clr Yarwood]

Thanks Stephen - i'm loving the photographic endnotes I'd have to agree that the city council cops some undeserved flak - especially given their track record for approving developments (upwards of 90pc approvals wasn't it?). Keep up the great work.

I think a lot of the flack is aimed at the last council...things take a while to change. Like today's Advertiser comment regarding toilets in the bus station...that was approved AND built before the election, hardly OUR fault!

People are just used to saying the Council is full of "old conservatives"...thinking anything else is not possible, that’s the way the world works!

The photos are because I'm sorting through my new images from India/Nepal...amazing places.

Another...prayer flags under the Bodhi Tree...where Buddha found enlightenment.

[Howie]

I think a lot of the flack is aimed at the last council...things take a while to change. Like today's Advertiser comment regarding toilets in the bus station...that was approved AND built before the election, hardly OUR fault!

I read the Messenger article by Matthew Abraham on page 20 today ... "here we go loo boo-boo". I thought that was utter hogwash - for instance this quote from the article "If the city council wants to win that confidence, it could start by spending a penny on more toilets". Okay.. toilets...and ... confidence... am I missing something that would connect these two ideas together?

[Pistol]

^^ I guess you skipped over that little image of yourself then as well...

[skyliner]

A little belated, but welcome to the site Stephen.

We will appreciate your input and insight into matters that concern many of us here. Overall we are a positive bunch and very supportive of Adelaide. About 1200 members give a good cross section of the community. Hope the comments here on SA will prove of use to you as well.

I am living in QLD. (ex adelaide and really Sth Aussie). Viewpoints from here gradually changing about Adelaide. Even had one person state to me last week, unsolicited, that Adelaide is about to boom. (He had been deeply involved with building and construction management).

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

[trevfromoz]

Good Grief
What has the Adelaide CBD got that Marion hasn’t.
Push Bikes? Same old Craft Markets? Sunshine? Mall Rats? The festivals?
Good Food at the Central Market food Court for $6 per plate vs. absolute junk food at Marion food court
The Trams are good, I note they had an old one in use on Sunday, suddenly no was complaining about the narrow new trams when people had to step up 60 cm on the old red hens.
More of the shuttle trams would be good to go between the Mall and the Free Market carparks. (I assume the council isn’t making enough money from the market car park to fix the food court lifts because they are always broken)
Re the Central Market The food courts are open 7 days and staffed by owner operators and the food is substantially better quality and cheaper than the Brand Name food outlets, if you try and re-invent the central market as a Marion Clone it will loose the locals who patron it.

[Ben]

City heading for another big development year

The City could be set for a second consecutive record-breaking year of development, with Adelaide City Council data for the first quarter of the year quarter indicating a possible repeat of 2007’s billion dollars worth of development applications lodged for planning consent.

A Development Assessment activity report presented to tonight’s Council meeting shows that between January and March this year, 184 applications with a total value of $282.5 million were lodged for Development Plan consent.

The applications lodged include a $90 million plan for a 17-level office building in Franklin Street, a $50 million proposal for a multi-storey hotel complex in Hindley Street, the Adelaide Zoo’s $20 million restructuring plans, and a $15 million proposal for a 16-storey office building in King William Street.

During the same period, 278 development applications with a total value of $247.7 million were approved.

Lord Mayor Michael Harbison says the figures are very encouraging.

“In dollar terms, the figures for the January to March quarter are well in advance of the same period 12 months ago, when applications lodged totalled $202.4 million, and applications approved were valued at $84.9 million,” he says.

“The figures recorded between January and March are right on the current monthly averages - $280 million for applications lodged and $257 million for applications approved – meaning the City appears to be heading for another big year of development.”

“This is another significant vote of confidence in the strength of the State’s economy, and is further evidence that the Adelaide City Council’s hard work to attract more businesses and workers to the City is paying dividends,” says the Lord Mayor.

[Ho Really]

City heading for another big development year

Approval is one thing, seeing them actually being built is another. Let's hope it's the latter. Anyway, it's in the right direction...

Cheers

P.S. Thanks for the news Ben.

[omada]

The applications lodged include a $90 million plan for a 17-level office building in Franklin Street, a $50 million proposal for a multi-storey hotel complex in Hindley Street, the Adelaide Zoo’s $20 million restructuring plans, and a $15 million proposal for a 16-storey office building in King William Street.

More sub 20 level developments though... come on developers propose some true skyscrapers!!!.. wonder if the ACC can impose a MINIMUM HEIGHT, let's say 120m for a start

[Clr Yarwood]

A heads up…last night we sunk our teeth into green energy and car parking – separate issues but both related to the environment.

I’m not sure buying 100% green energy is a good idea when we could spend the near $1 million/year expense on infrastructure to reduce energy use first – keen to help retro fit buildings that are old school inefficient.

Re car parking – if registering a 4 cylinder car is cheaper than a 6 or 8, why should car parking be any different? We own 30% of all off street car parks and should be using them to reward people who drive lower emission vehicles.

I’m pushing a new car parks policy that supports people driving smaller cars and using public transport to commute to work – i.e. focus on short term car parking, not all day parking…any thoughts?

[Wayno]

A heads up…last night we sunk our teeth into green energy and car parking – separate issues but both related to the environment.

I’m not sure buying 100% green energy is a good idea when we could spend the near $1 million/year expense on infrastructure to reduce energy use first – keen to help retro fit buildings that are old school inefficient.

Re car parking – if registering a 4 cylinder car is cheaper than a 6 or 8, why should car parking be any different? We own 30% of all off street car parks and should be using them to reward people who drive lower emission vehicles.

I’m pushing a new car parks policy that supports people driving smaller cars and using public transport to commute to work – i.e. focus on short term car parking, not all day parking…any thoughts?

How about a "green tax" on city car parking (for street and high-rise public carparks) with proceeds being spent on further reducing the city's environmental footprint. how much would 50c or $1 per car per day raise across a year?

[edit] of course this should only apply mon-fri, ~8am-6pm as the availability of public transport gets worse outside these hours...

[rhino]

I’m pushing a new car parks policy that supports people driving smaller cars and using public transport to commute to work – i.e. focus on short term car parking, not all day parking…any thoughts?

Sounds good. Just don't bring those hybrid cars into the equation! They're so expensive the only people who can afford to buy them can afford to pay for parking them! You'd only be rewarding the rich chaps.

[Howie]

I read the article today in Advertiser about your ideas around carparking Stephen. Great idea, and the council has a great opportunity to reward low-emission vehicles. However, just a couple of things I'd like to touch on...

- Hybrid cars (such as a the Toyota Prius) often cost more to manufacture, have to have a major battery replacement costing several thousands of dollars, and consume fuel at similar rates to many of their small Diesel counterparts (such as the 3 series BMW). They're more a statement of one's green credentials than a practical alternative to conventional petrol powered cars.

- Also rewarding cars based on the number of cylinders is a difficult system to work with, if you don't take into account things such as the vehicle load, the power output of the car, fuel source so forth. For instance, a 2003 Subaru WRX with it's four cylinder turbocharged - will probably consume anywhere up to 14L/100kms (about the same as a Holden V8). Or another example is cars running on LPG, or biodiesel (which is great because you can also make your own fuel at home). And how about pre-unleaded cars... they're not required to have catalytic converters which trap the carcinogens from the engine.

Could we suggest giving rewards for vehicles which consume less than a certain amount of petrol as stated by the manufacturers vehicle specifications? e.g. Band 1 - Less than 5L/100kms, Band 2 - Less than 10L/100kms, Band 3 - Less than 15L/100kms. And different categories for cars running biodiesel etc.

[monotonehell]

A heads up…last night we sunk our teeth into green energy and car parking – separate issues but both related to the environment.

I’m not sure buying 100% green energy is a good idea when we could spend the near $1 million/year expense on infrastructure to reduce energy use first – keen to help retro fit buildings that are old school inefficient.

Re car parking – if registering a 4 cylinder car is cheaper than a 6 or 8, why should car parking be any different? We own 30% of all off street car parks and should be using them to reward people who drive lower emission vehicles.

I’m pushing a new car parks policy that supports people driving smaller cars and using public transport to commute to work – i.e. focus on short term car parking, not all day parking…any thoughts?

You'd have to put equal amounts of very hard thought into:
1) Establishing a fines and rewards system that achieves a truly positive outcome (rather than just appearing to)
2) Implementing such a system that is WORKABLE. So that you're not putting all the policing work onto the heads of officers such as the staff at UPark. Imagine the logistics of trying to charge differential rates at the cashiers' booths.

You might think of a discount card or something that is obtained by showing your registration of your vehicle or similar. But even then, who's to say that such a card wont be used by Mister Eastern suburbs showing his son's small car's rego papers and then driving into Topham carpark in his Hummer? (In a similar way as the disabled booklets allegedly get misused)

It's a bold idea, but I think that the devil will be in the implementation and until you've worked that out the idea wont run.

[wilkiebarkid]

You might think of a discount card or something that is obtained by showing your registration of your vehicle or similar. But even then, who's to say that such a card wont be used by Mister Eastern suburbs showing his son's small car's rego papers and then driving into Topham carpark in his Hummer? (In a similar way as the disabled booklets allegedly get misused

BMW X5 if you don't mind!

[rhino]

Could we suggest giving rewards for vehicles which consume less than a certain amount of petrol as stated by the manufacturers vehicle specifications? e.g. Band 1 - Less than 5L/100kms, Band 2 - Less than 10L/100kms, Band 3 - Less than 15L/100kms. And different categories for cars running biodiesel etc.

Hmmm....I have a diesel ute and currently use 9.9L/100kms. For a while there I switched to biodiesel - same price per litre but more environmental. Suddenly I found myself using 11.5L/100km, and having to change my fuel filter more often. You would definately need a different category for people running on bio-diesel, because at the end of the fortnight, they are spending more on their fuel in order to be greener.