U/C: [Cheltenham] St. Clair | $500m

[Omicron]

It's not in the public interest for the taxpayer-funded Government to be involved in taxpayer-funded lengthy and costly litigation with taxpayers?

Well, that's big of them.

And what does John Hill have to do with anything? At last check, the St. Clair reserve is not in the electorate of Kaurna, nor in the southern suburbs, nor is it a hospital.

[JamesXander]

Whats all the fuss about. they get a new park anyway dont they?

[Mpol]

Caught the train into the city the other day from Woodville and all the signs up along Woodville road about wanting to save St Clair.

[fabricator]

The fuss is this has been planned for ages, so why hasn't the new park land been planted with new grass, trees etc ?

http://www.charlessturt.sa.gov.au/webda ... -05-04.pdf

It is noted that given that the site has been used for industrial uses, including part of the site
as a paint factory, it is likely that there will be some form of site contamination. It is proposed
that an in depth review of site contamination will be undertaken at a later date.

During this quarter DAP members participated in a workshop on site contamination on the
17 February 2009. This workshop focussed on gaining a better understanding of
contamination issues, how to deal with site contamination when considering a development
application, what Council and DAP’s obligations are as a relevant authority and highlighted
potential legal implications.

There are also questions about the relative land values of prime TOD land (ie the park) vs contaminated former factory land. ie is the developer getting a profit purely on the land transaction.

I wouldn't touch that factory land with a barge pole, and it doesn't sound like the council are in a hurry to get it cleaned up either.

[rhino]

Of course the contaminated land is going to get cleaned up! If the St Clair Reserve stays where it is, and the housing development is forced on to the ex-industrial land, do you think for one minute that it will be allowed to get developed without being de-contaminated? Unfortunately, the upshot of a backflip on the land swap will be that the development will not be a TOD. The land swap is vital for this, for proximity to the rail line. The big failing is in the Govt not making clear what their goal was from the outset.

[AG]

Of course the contaminated land is going to get cleaned up! If the St Clair Reserve stays where it is, and the housing development is forced on to the ex-industrial land, do you think for one minute that it will be allowed to get developed without being de-contaminated? Unfortunately, the upshot of a backflip on the land swap will be that the development will not be a TOD. The land swap is vital for this, for proximity to the rail line. The big failing is in the Govt not making clear what their goal was from the outset.

Even if the TOD didn't go ahead in its proposed form, the contaminated land would still need to be cleaned up anyway regardless of what replaces the factory that used to be on the site. The developers and authorities wouldn't be silly enough to leave the land contaminated unless they wanted to face some serious consequences. Leaving the land unused and contaminated is another option, but that would be a waste of valuable space and lower the values of property around it.

[rhino]

That's what I was trying to say.

[fabricator]

Compare these two maps:


and

http://www.nearmap.com/?ll=-34.872623,1 ... 4&z=17&t=k

Notice how part of this swapped land is already being turned into a road by the developer.

[rhino]

No. The land that is being developed is the next bit north. The parcel involved in the land swap is still barren.

[Howie]

Let's try to keep this discussion clean, but just wanted to say that the site reported by AdelaideNow to be hacked was not S-A but http://www.charlessturtratepayers.org/

Atkinson accused of corruption over St Clair land swap
Article from: The Advertiser

DANIEL WILLS, POLITICAL REPORTER

December 03, 2009 10:10pm

PARLIAMENT has been told of allegations that Attorney-General Michael Atkinson offered a benefit to a Charles Sturt councillor if he joined the Labor Party.

Independent MP David Winderlich today won support from the Upper House for an Ombudsman's inquiry into the St Clair land swap and detailed allegations that residents had been intimidated by Atkinson staffers.

Making his comments under parliamentary privilege, he said four complaints had been made to police about Mr Atkinson or "people closely associated to him" and revealed testimony from people who feel "personally threatened" by the Attorney-General."

Vote now: Should the St Clair land swap go ahead?

Mr Winderlich said there were several allegations, one of which he considered ``extremely credible’, that Mr Atkinson ``actively offers benefits to councils’’.

Mr Winderlich also relayed an allegation that ``one councillor who had opposed the land swap recently changed his vote late in the piece’’

``Residents assert that this is because he has been promised the Honourable Michael Atkinson's support for a Labor seat," Mr Winderlich told parliament.

Mr Winderlich also revealed claims a one councillor was offered a position as chair of a council committee attracting payment of $3000 if he rejoined the ALP.

Mr Winderlich also read a police complaints from a woman who claimed to have been photographed by an Atkinson staffer while protesting at the West Croydon Community and told ''you'll pay for this, for what (you) did today'."

He also quoted from an email sent by a resident who claimed an internet forum discussing the St Clair land swap had been hacked and forced to shut down. The resident claimed Mr Atkinson had visited the site and had attacked residents for engaging in community conversation about the land.

"I spoke to one of the administrators the day before the site was last hacked and his property had been damaged the night before and he had been targeted and attacked," the email quoted by Mr Winderlich read.

"Why would Michael do this to residents who had for so many years been loyal to him? I am just one person, but there are so many others out there in his electorate who are also scared…

"It is like being the exiles in George Orwell's Animal Farm."

Labor MPs jeered Mr Winderlich during his speech and accused him of being a "coward" for making the allegations under privilege. Labor members accused those supporting the motion of grandstanding on the basis that the Ombudsman was capable of initiating an inquiry in his own right following a complaint from the public.


Mr Atkinson said later in an emailed statement "not one of these allegations has any substance and I deny them".

He said if it was "necessary" to initiate legal proceedings "as a result of this horrible smear" he would do so at no expense to the taxpayer.

"The former Democrat has read out an email to him from a person whom until this week he did not know," he said.

"He has made no attempt to check the truthfulness of the allegations with me or anyone else."

[Howie]

sorry.. had to delete a posting just now. Let's keep this discussion related to the cheltenham development... not personal views on Mr Atkinson. No offence to anyone.

But just wanted to clear speculation that it was our site that was taken down due to this thread. As i've had a few emails recently re: this matter.

[danielphin]

Start from scratch? Have we not heard of backup people?

backup. backup. backup

[fabricator]

There is a copy of a radio interview with Michel Atkinson on the front page of the http://www.charlessturtratepayers.org/ website. Fast forward it to 3:02.

Some talk about the light rail, and Mr Atkinson arguing with the interviewer.

[Prince George]

Whilst taking a look on the Charles Sturt ratepayer's site (which doesn't appear to be damaged, btw), I found a link to what is called the final concept plans. It seems that this is specifically for the racecourse site and doesn't include the industrial sites/St Clair reserve. These plans please me much more than the earlier examples did, with some clearer details on the connections to the rail stations (which looks better than they had before, even if they're still not perfection itself), the building types (heavy emphasis on terraces/apartments), inclusion of "affordable housing" (166 of the 1099 dwellings, spread across all the housing types), and design of streets & open spaces. One detail I particularly like is that the streets are aligned not on the typical north/south grid, but at an offset to it: that small change improves light access to the buildings and helps passive-solar design. All in all, I find myself in the unusual position of liking something that Hassell's done, which gives me more confidence for the Bowden Village.

One thing that did concern me was a point of presentation: the photos that they use to illustrate some of the building types (apartments, medium-density) are just the kind of thing that are going to encourage people bucking against the plans. They show too many images of some rather plain and repetitive buildings on streets that are devoid of people; especially the apartments in Subiaco and the med-density in Burswood, I just can't believe that people living in the area already are going to change they're minds on density when they're shown that. Indeed there's already a post at the ratepayer's site that shows a sample of higher density building in Port Adelaide with the clear implication "don't let this happen to us". Adelaide badly needs some high-visibility, really top-shelf examples of what could be done with new developments to overcome this.

[Omicron]

Those plans don't look bad at all. I'm more positive about the area now that I've seen those.

A question - what price threshold is considered affordable?