News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[david]

Thanks for the interest in the Balfours site. This site is a major plank in the Council’s strategy to increase the residential population of the city and to rejuvenate the western part of the CBD by partnering to build a range of different housing types and to set some higher standards of residential development and better public realm. It is disappointing that it has not progressed to the original timelines but I think it is a good project for which the Council should be applauded. (I wasn’t on the Council when it was decided to proceed with the Balfours project!)

The GFC has had a significant impact on the development industry, including securing development funding for construction to proceed, and for retail funding to purchasers in order for pre-sale hurdles to be met. The Balfours-Bus Station project has not been immune to this. At this time Council and the developer are in negotiation related to the progress of the project and considering various options as to how best to move forward. The nature of these negotiations is “Commercial in confidence” and therefore I am not able to disclose them.

The old bus station site forms part of future stages of the development. Currently it has a number of community uses including the Common Ground Community Garden and offices of Bicycle SA. I agree that the appearance of the site isn’t ideal (dog sculpture notwithstanding!) and I have asked Council staff to see what can be done to improve the appearance,, not forgetting of course that the existing structures will be demolished in the future.

David
DLM City of Adelaide

[david]

In reply to a point raised by UrbanSG some time ago, I have now been advised that the old stobie poles along North Terrace will soon be removed. It was always intended to remove them but there was a funding problem which I am told has now been resolved.

In fact there are quite a few 'odd' stobies left behind after undergrounding operations or new building construction and I am trying to find the funds required to have them removed. Sometimes they stay for good reasons; they may be carrying an overhead feed to a property where the owner is reluctant to pay for the U/G connection or they may be carrying a luminaire which has to be repositioned by the Council but for which there are no funds currently available.

I know these sound like pretty feeble excuses but sometimes life is just like that!

David
Deputy Lord Mayor

[UrbanSG]

Thanks for your replies David.

Hopefully Council continues with its underground powerline program. West Terrace is a perfect example of how much of a difference it makes. The street isn't great by any means but it has been vastly improved just by removing all the overhead powerlines. A few streets in the southern and western parts of the city will also be improved once the program reaches them.

Also there have been a lot of trees/shrubs being planted around the parklands over the last couple of weeks David. Now that Council has a more stable supply of water from the Glenelg pipeline has this prompted more plantings than usual? I know this is a particular area of interest for you. The underground cable from the new Keswick substation also appears to have resulted in a lot of excavation in the southwest parklands. I'm guessing the company will be responsible for revegetation in this area?

[iTouch]

+ the removal of stobie poles makes the road seem more open and breathable.

[rev]

instead of blowing the $35k on advertising something people don't want, why don't they spend it upgrading the amenity of Hindley street to make it less condusive to late night violence?

That $35k could pay for around 50 CCTV camears, if not a few more.
Surely a common sense and practical approach like that would do more to reduce part of the problems in Hindley Street?

[Waewick]

instead of blowing the $35k on advertising something people don't want, why don't they spend it upgrading the amenity of Hindley street to make it less condusive to late night violence?

That $35k could pay for around 50 CCTV camears, if not a few more.
Surely a common sense and practical approach like that would do more to reduce part of the problems in Hindley Street?

CCTV or a improvement in the streetscape during the area to give people plenty of room.

As I said - a well lite pick up drop off area in "plaza" style at the bottom of light square makes sense to me

traffic down those roads is minimal after 9pm so make it a 25km area, pave it and put a taxi rank on it.

[[Shuz]]

Saturday night revellers, take note - a taxi rank already exists on Morphett Street between Hindley Street and Light Square.

I completely support any move to improve the streetscape in Hindley Street, especially to widen the footpaths. I still remain a strong advocate to for the conversion of Hindley Street into a pedestrian mall, but I'm happy to accept and support reasonable compromise measures that the ACC may action upon.

CCTV is something the council should definetly look into. Especially in light of the recent UK violence; although the severity of the actions over there is different compared to the issues we face at home (apples and oranges), I do believe that through the use of CCTV, social networking and facial recognition technology, it would prove an effective measure against curbing the violence that occurs on the street late at night.

[Waewick]

the taxi rank does exsist but I'm thinking of making it on a bigger scale to incorporate other forms of PT and general pick and drop off.

make it wide and open with some CCTV and a couple of cops standing there and your job would be 90% done.

[[Shuz]]

If the Government's worst-kept secret about extending the tram through the City's West End down Morphett St and Gouger St, goes ahead shortly, it would be an excellent location to have a tram stop there, combined with the taxi rank.

[Waewick]

If the Government's worst-kept secret about extending the tram through the City's West End down Morphett St and Gouger St, goes ahead shortly, it would be an excellent location to have a tram stop there, combined with the taxi rank.

agreed

[crawf]

More CCTV cameras, police patrols and a revamp of Hindley Street is needed, though more needs to be done.

I think the main problem is our main entertainment precinct is too compact and attracts far to many people that Hindley Street can handle. You only need to go there on a late Saturday night and there is easily an excess of 50,000+ along the street. What should be done is attracting entertainment businesses outside of Hindley Street, like Rundle Mall, Gouger Street or even Grote Street so the city nightlife scene is bit more spread out.

Another problem is some of the type of people who visit Hindley Street regularly, like the aggressive dickheads that get majorly intoxicated and give the word 'nightlife' a shocking reputation. The media build up crap doesn't help either..

In the end Adelaide is not alone to this problem.

[[Shuz]]

...there is easily an excess of 50,000+ along the street. The media build up crap doesn't help either..

The over-exaggerating crap doesn't help either. It is absolutely laughable that you believe 50,000 people head to Hindley Street on an average Saturday night; that equates to 1 in every 24 people that live in Adelaide.

It'd be more like 10,000+ And that's on a good night.

[crawf]

It's a figure that's been estimated in the past, but you could be right it's probably not as high as 50,000.

Even still, Hindley Street is jammed packed around midnight on a Sunday morning so the idea of spreading the city nightlife should be looked at.

[UrbanSG]

City Council lags behind neighbours, says Rau
City Messenger 19 Aug 11 @ 09:33am by Tim Williams

Planning Minister John Rau has ordered his department to review the City Council's planning policies.

THE City Council is lagging behind its neighbours in preparing for population growth, Planning Minister John Rau says.

In a speech to the Urban Development Institute of Australia this week, Mr Rau announced he had ordered his department to start an immediate review of the council’s planning policies.

The government’s 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide envisages an extra 15,000 homes for 27,300 more people in the CBD.

“Now that the inner city rim councils have planned for their growth, it is of critical importance that the City of Adelaide, in particular the square mile, makes its contribution to the 30-Year Plan,” Mr Rau said.

“It seems to me that the rezoning in Adelaide city is not occurring quickly enough and I do not accept this.

“Accordingly, I have written to the Adelaide City Council stating that I have directed my department to review the city’s planning policy framework commencing immediately.

“The 30-Year Plan needs to be co-ordinated across the city and the Adelaide City Council cannot, and must not, stand outside this process.”

Mr Rau praised councils bordering the city for their work to revise development policies to balance higher density housing with heritage protection.

For the full story see next week’s City Messenger or view our digital edition online.

[david]

Councillor David Plumridge's Notes - Issue 68

- Urban Planning - Is it important and can it make us happy?
- Recent DAP and Council Meeting decisions.

Notes from Councillor Issue 68.pdf

(60.66 KiB) Downloaded 174 times

David Plumridge,
Deputy Lord Mayor