News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[cruel_world00]

Thank you David for your reply. I am very appreciative of you continued communication on Sensational Adelaide.

[david]

A message to Omricon, thanks for your offer of help but don't bank on it being accepted!
David

[Queen Anne]

I must admit that I had scant knowledge of the good work that PPS do. I an sure that had we known they were in Australia we would have tried to get them across to Adelaide. I'm sorry about that.

ACC staff have been talking to David Sim of Jan Gehl's office and I am hoping that I might be able to persuade my council colleagues to bring Gehl back to review his report of 2002 which has largely gathrered dust on a Town Hall bookshelf, at least until the present Council was elected in 2007.

I have managed to put $200k on the draft Busines Plan and Budget for 'Gehl Initiatives' - lets hope it survives the final budget process on 15 June.

David

Hi Councillor Plumridge,

During the months I was emailing people at council, trying to get PPS on board for Vic Square, I did tell certain council members that PPS were coming to Australia in early '09, and that Adelaide was a notable absence on their itinerary.

I know that PPS would be delighted to come to Adelaide. It might be too late for them to help with Vic Square *
but looking forward, is council interested in getting PPS over to Adelaide next time they are offering placemaking training in Australia?

PPS has a close relationship with Jan Gehl too. Ethan Kent wrote to me, "He is a close friend of ours. Our approaches are very compatible and complementary." Could we get both to come talk to us? Imho, it would be well worth the money. The thing about PPS is that they are expert at teaching/facilitating community engagement, so that a city can come up with ideas that are really relevant to its unique needs - this approach has proven success and Adelaide should explore this idea going into the future. And here's some inspiration to remind us all why we ought to listen to Jan Gehl:

http://www.pps.org/info/newsletter/marc ... _australia (though, I must say, I don't think I agree with the statement that Melbourne may have been even more devoted to the motor car than American cities - that is a biiiig call).

* though Ethan Kent told me (in email on Nov 21, '08 ) that he thought PPS could still insert some of the PPS engagement and management approach into the current Vic Square process.

Cheers, and thank you for your responses so far,
Caroline (not a serial pest - just enthusiastic!)

[Benski81]

A message to Omricon, thanks for your offer of help but don't bank on it being accepted!
David

No pun intended right councillor.

[david]

At 5pm on Tuesday 16 June Adelaide City Councillors will be given a briefing on the 3D Digital City Model which Council commissioned some months ago. The briefing will include a demonstration of the model and will discuss how it will be used in city planning policy development and in the DA processes.

It is intended that the model will will be ready for Council staff use by 1 July with a new information web page up by 14 July and public internet access to the model being made available to the public from December 2009.

The briefing which will be held in the Colonel Light Room at the Town Hall will be open to the public and may be of interest to followers of the activities of the Council's planning activities.

David

[Shuz]

I sincerely hope that I can hold your word to that David. I have been very eager and interested to see the outcome of this 3D model; particularly if it is to solve urban planning issues associated with development, issues which the council have long been "inactive" about - ie: height limits, shadowing, etc.

[how_good_is_he]

Hi David on the the 30 May you wrote

I have to say that you make a good point which I will have to think about and discuss with my colleagues.

I wonder if you/your collegues have had time to respond?

Can you and fellow councillors see the hypocrisy of council carpaking policy for new developments actually forcing developments towards smaller apartments [ie student accom.] and then councillors like Sandy Wilkinson complaining about the proliferation or quality or size of them.

If you are serious about improving the situation are you willing to relax and/or change the carpaking policy now ie over rule or be flexible with the demands of carparking requirements in the current 2006 development plan?

[david]

NOTES FROM COUNCILLOR Issue 28.pdf

(64.99 KiB) Downloaded 147 times

Councillor's Notes -Issue 28.....
- An overview of the Council's adopted Budget for 2009-2010
- A summary of recent Council meeting decisions
- and some comments about Council's dual role as commercial provider of parking space versus its role as a policy maker in parking and transport planning.

David

[Howie]

Good read as usual David.. thanks for posting that.

[david]

Hi David on the the 30 May you wrote

I have to say that you make a good point which I will have to think about and discuss with my colleagues.

I wonder if you/your collegues have had time to respond?

Can you and fellow councillors see the hypocrisy of council carpaking policy for new developments actually forcing developments towards smaller apartments [ie student accom.] and then councillors like Sandy Wilkinson complaining about the proliferation or quality or size of them.

If you are serious about improving the situation are you willing to relax and/or change the carpaking policy now ie over rule or be flexible with the demands of carparking requirements in the current 2006 development plan?

No not yet. Sorry about that, but we have been flat out working on other things such as the Budget, Sustainability DPA Statement of Intent and finalising the new Park Lands Management Strategy to name a few!
Give me about a month and I will report again.

Also, the demo tonight of the 3D city model was very impressive (its a pity that none of you was able to be there). It will be in use on a proving basis by Council staff almost immediately and it is our hope that basic version will be made available on the Council website later in the year. Its potential for carrying numerous layers of information ranging from projected height limis, city policy zones, cadastral information and even underground services is almost limitless. And of course the main value will be to test all kind of 'what if ' scenarios.

David

[Howie]

Also, the demo tonight of the 3D city model was very impressive (its a pity that none of you was able to be there). It will be in use on a proving basis by Council staff almost immediately and it is our hope that basic version will be made available on the Council website later in the year. Its potential for carrying numerous layers of information ranging from projected height limis, city policy zones, cadastral information and even underground services is almost limitless. And of course the main value will be to test all kind of 'what if ' scenarios.

YES!!! That is brilliant. I wonder if it would be possible for the council to make a publically downloadable version of the model (e.g. in google earth format, or sketchup format or 3ds format). The potential for such a tool would be immense... e.g. we could do things like geo-tag photos, add tourist information, link locations/buildings to wikipedia etc.

[Shuz]

I would hope the 3D model can show the "ceiling" of absolute height limitations (by AAL, CASA). This is the level at which they should be at; ie; its fullest potential.

[david]

Councillor's Notes - Issue 29
Nothing very contentious!
David

NOTES FROM COUNCILLOR Issue 29.pdf

(342.81 KiB) Downloaded 166 times

[AtD]

Minister Paul Holloway has announced that the Government will provide funds to assist the Council to proceed
with North Tce Stage 3 (Prince Henry Gardens) total $2.06m

That is good news.

Shuz says:
Stage 3 is between Kintiore Ave and KWS (front of Government House)
Stage 4 is between KWS and Station Road (front of Parliament House)

Lets hope it doesn't take over two years this time.

[Ben]

From The City Messenger:

City planning panel goes all hush-hush

by Adam Todd

ALL major development applications in the city will be discussed behind closed doors from now on, in a bid by the City Council Development Assessment Panel (DAP) to avoid public criticism.

The DAP took the extraordinary move at Monday night’s, July 6, meeting, just a fortnight after it came under fire for criticising a 13-storey proposal at Light Square as “too tall”.

The public were asked to leave the gallery, before the panel spent 50 minutes discussing a proposed four-storey retail and accommodation complex on Rundle St in confidence.

When the public were allowed back in, the panel announced it had recommended the proposal not be approved, but did not provide any reasons.

The panel ignored its own expert planners, who recommended that the project be supported.

The project’s developer, Theo Maras, described this week’s events as a “joke”.

“It just goes to show the appalling attitude that’s coming from the Adelaide City Council towards any development,” he said.

Since last July, all development applications worth more than $10 million have been assessed by the State Government’s Development Assessment Commission (DAC). However, the City Council’s DAP still offers its advice to the DAC before the application is assessed.

Before going into confidence, DAP member Cr Michael Henningsen justified the move by pointing out the DAC held its deliberations behind closed doors.

Cr Anne Moran, normally an outspoken advocate for council transparency, supported his motion. “Unusually, I’m happy to second this, because we’re not the decision maker in this process,” she said. “We are feeding our advice into the state DAC which handles all its discussions behind closed doors, I would never agree with doing it behind closed doors if we were the decision maker.”

“We are now part of the state’s planning, I am reasonably comfortable that we discuss these in camera.”

Property Council of Australia state manager Nathan Paine labelled the move “bizarre and strange”. “Obviously it’s in response to the overwhelming criticism they’ve received from people across SA as a consequence of their advice on the Light Square development,” he said.

“It seems to be in character with a lot of the decisions the DAP have come to, but if they’ve got nothing to hide, they should be doing it in public, if they’ve got something to hide, then they can operate in a shadowy context behind closed doors.”

Lord Mayor Michael Harbison said he had become “concerned” about the panel’s behaviour in recent months. “If they’re going to be rude about people, I’d rather they do so behind closed doors, but I struggle with the logic that our panel should be secret because the DAC is secret,” he said. “I’d prefer they conducted their proceedings in a manner that’s open to public scrutiny and that they behave themselves with probity and decorum.”

“Their task is not to pass comment on anything and everything but to simply judge applications according to the law.”

Planning Minster Paul Holloway said it was the council’s choice how it deliberated on major developments.

The Light Square controversy came just a month after the DAP criticised a $50 million student apartment complex on the Freedom site as “hopeless” and “absolute rubbish”.

Those comments prompted a formal complaint from the developer and a subsequent letter to panel members from Council CEO Peter Smith, reminding them of the need to act with “integrity and professionalism”.