Sensational-Adelaide.com

Plan for SA 'super town'

Article from: Sunday Mail (SA)

RENATO CASTELLO

October 18, 2009 12:01am

EXCLUSIVE: THE masterplan for a multi-billion-dollar town of more than 18,000 homes and 46,000 people, earmarked for Adelaide's north, has finally been released.

Seven primary and high schools and a tertiary institution, offices, shops, two commuter train stations and a water recycling plant are all envisioned for the new community.

The Sunday Mail can reveal the Macquarie Group's land development arm, Urban Pacific, has drawn up the masterplan to expand the little-known town of Concordia, east of Gawler.

About 2500ha of farm land would be developed over a 40-year period but, contingent on state planning approval, work could start as early as 2011 with the first houses available in 2012.

Among the features proposed for the town are:

18,400 ALLOTMENTS spread across five neighbourhoods and a town centre housing more than 46,000 people.

TWO TRAIN stations linked to the Gawler rail line, with the extended rail line to be funded by the developer.

FIVE PRIMARY schools, two high schools and a tertiary institution.

OFFICES and shops to support an estimated 6570 jobs.

A WASTE-WATER treatment plant to provide recycled water for irrigation.

New roads would be built to link the town with the Barossa Valley Hwy to the south and the Sturt Hwy and the new Northern Expressway.

Details of the new town were revealed in a publicly available submission to the State Government's draft 30-year plan for Greater Metropolitan Adelaide - one of 578 submissions received during public consultation which closed last month.

"The vision for the new Concordia township is to create a large-scale sustainable and largely self-contained new town," said the submission, prepared by Jensen Planning and Design on behalf of Urban Pacific.

"The township will provide for diversity of housing for ages and incomes and include high density, medium and lower density areas.

"Barossa Council members have indicated their in-principle support (subject to a full investigation and community consultation) and their preparedness to promote future rezoning of the land for urban purposes."

Construction of the town would require the State Government to rezone the land from rural to urban.

In its 30-year growth strategy, the Government has identified Concordia, Roseworthy and Mallala as key areas potentially housing more than 140,000 people by 2040. In December 2007, the Government extended the urban growth boundary to include this area.

The Jensen submission said Urban Pacific was "working" with landowners who control about 2500ha of land to establish the new community.

The Sunday Mail understands Urban Pacific has options to buy the land contingent on the Government approving the rezoning.

Barossa Mayor Brian Hurn said the council had been aware of the project for "quite some time" and supported the establishment of a new town centre at Concordia.

"What the council has said is that we need to have some further information and further investigation into the detail," he said.

"The council would very much prefer to have a new sustainable town in that area rather than unco-ordinated sprawl of Gawler.

"It is, if you like, a way of endeavouring to preserve the integrity of the Barossa."

Planning Minister Paul Holloway's media spokesman, Owen Brown, said Barossa Council and Urban Pacific had approached the Minister in early 2008 "flagging" their interest in a master-planned community in Concordia.

"This is the sort of proposal that the Government is hoping to encourage by putting the 30-year plan out to consultation as well as by adjusting the urban growth boundary back in 2007," he said.

"This submission will be considered along with the more than 500 submissions received through the community consultation on the 30-year plan."

Urban Pacific SA general manager Mark Divine did not respond before the Sunday Mail's deadline.

Jensen Planning and Design director Peter Jensen referred the paper to Urban Pacific's senior acquisitions manager Chris Bradley, but he was overseas and unavailable for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: THE masterplan for a multi-billion-dollar town of more than 18,000 homes and 46,000 people, earmarked for Adelaide's north, has finally been released.

Seven primary and high schools and a tertiary institution, offices, shops, two commuter train stations and a water recycling plant are all envisioned for the new community.

The Sunday Mail can reveal the Macquarie Group's land development arm, Urban Pacific, has drawn up the masterplan to expand the little-known town of Concordia, east of Gawler.

About 2500ha of farm land would be developed over a 40-year period but, contingent on state planning approval, work could start as early as 2011 with the first houses available in 2012.

Among the features proposed for the town are:

18,400 ALLOTMENTS spread across five neighbourhoods and a town centre housing more than 46,000 people.

TWO TRAIN stations linked to the Gawler rail line, with the extended rail line to be funded by the developer.

FIVE PRIMARY schools, two high schools and a tertiary institution.

OFFICES and shops to support an estimated 6570 jobs.

A WASTE-WATER treatment plant to provide recycled water for irrigation.

New roads would be built to link the town with the Barossa Valley Hwy to the south and the Sturt Hwy and the new Northern Expressway.

Details of the new town were revealed in a publicly available submission to the State Government's draft 30-year plan for Greater Metropolitan Adelaide - one of 578 submissions received during public consultation which closed last month.

"The vision for the new Concordia township is to create a large-scale sustainable and largely self-contained new town," said the submission, prepared by Jensen Planning and Design on behalf of Urban Pacific.

"The township will provide for diversity of housing for ages and incomes and include high density, medium and lower density areas.

"Barossa Council members have indicated their in-principle support (subject to a full investigation and community consultation) and their preparedness to promote future rezoning of the land for urban purposes."

Construction of the town would require the State Government to rezone the land from rural to urban.

In its 30-year growth strategy, the Government has identified Concordia, Roseworthy and Mallala as key areas potentially housing more than 140,000 people by 2040. In December 2007, the Government extended the urban growth boundary to include this area.

The Jensen submission said Urban Pacific was "working" with landowners who control about 2500ha of land to establish the new community.

The Sunday Mail understands Urban Pacific has options to buy the land contingent on the Government approving the rezoning.

Barossa Mayor Brian Hurn said the council had been aware of the project for "quite some time" and supported the establishment of a new town centre at Concordia.

"What the council has said is that we need to have some further information and further investigation into the detail," he said.

"The council would very much prefer to have a new sustainable town in that area rather than unco-ordinated sprawl of Gawler.

"It is, if you like, a way of endeavouring to preserve the integrity of the Barossa."

Planning Minister Paul Holloway's media spokesman, Owen Brown, said Barossa Council and Urban Pacific had approached the Minister in early 2008 "flagging" their interest in a master-planned community in Concordia.

"This is the sort of proposal that the Government is hoping to encourage by putting the 30-year plan out to consultation as well as by adjusting the urban growth boundary back in 2007," he said.

"This submission will be considered along with the more than 500 submissions received through the community consultation on the 30-year plan."

Urban Pacific SA general manager Mark Divine did not respond before the Sunday Mail's deadline.

Jensen Planning and Design director Peter Jensen referred the paper to Urban Pacific's senior acquisitions manager Chris Bradley, but he was overseas and unavailable for comment.

Norman wrote:Great news that they are extending the line in this manner, especially if the developer is actually going to fund it himself.

JamesXander wrote:The whinging on AdelaideNow was unbearable.

Do people want SA to die a slow death. FFS if we don't get population growth our state is never going to move forward. At one stage I too was lulled into the 'no lets not grow I'm content with little traffic'. But the fact is we can't have that, and then complain about poor services. The world at the moment revolves around growth.

Thats why AdelaideNow was cringeworthy, people were complaining about growth, then had the stupidity to then go on about services. Well FFS people who is going to maintain those services when your in a nursing home!