Agenda
- Jacka Stage 2, Suburban Land Agency
- Gungahlin Policing Update
- Magnet Mart Site Redevelopment, Purdon Planning
- CSIRO Ginninderra – Update and Fresh Market Approach
Background Update
Agenda
Venue: Gungahlin Club, 51 Hinder Street, Gungahlin
Parking: free, under the club, enter from Efkarpides Street
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm, Wednesday 8th August
GCC Community Meeting
11 July 2018
Gungahlin Library
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Chair: Peter Elford (President).
Attendees: see attendance log
An Integrated Transport Network for Canberra
A network of light rail and buses designed to offer greater service coverage and frequency, seven days a week at peak and off-peak times across Canberra.
Presentation by:
Kristin Blume from Transport Canberra
Megan Oldfield from Light Rail
Duncan Edgehill from DD Transport Canberra
Ian ? from Bus Networks
The Presenters were here to consult on new network design, planned to make a better public transport system which will attract more people onto public transport. Currently only 8% of the public use it.
Gungahlin is unique in having a light rail with new journey planners and a new ticketing system. People will not necessarily need to use their My Way card but the question remains about how trip information will be tracked.
The aim is to make the bus network more efficient and the planners are interested in any infrastructure ideas people may have. We know rapid routes are popular. Half of all Canberrans will eventually live within walking distance of a rapid route in the new network. Previously the northern part of Gungahlin was not well served by public transport. This has been addressed and it is now planned to have bi-directional loops.
Schools network. The majority of students are using the ordinary bus network. In the new network 30% more trips will be going past schools.. More services will provide more flexibility for students. Investments are also planned for more customer service officers at interchanges.
Rapid service will be provided by frequent buses on trunk routes.
Questions from the floor:
Looking at implementing bus services:
Minutes taken by Andrew Braddock
An Integrated Transport Network for Canberra
A network of light rail and buses designed to offer greater service coverage and frequency, seven days a week at peak and off-peak times across Canberra.
Transport Canberra is presently in an 8-week consultation process with the public about the planned New Bus Network for Canberra. The process commenced on 18 June, 2018 and will conclude on 12 August 2018.
Transport Canberra wants to hear from current public transport users, community councils, peak bodies, schools and residents how we can support Canberrans to use the new network. Find more information about the planned bus network and provide feedback at yoursay.act.gov.au
Gungahlin Library, 6:30pm
GCC Community Meeting
13 June 2018
Gungahlin Club
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Chair: Henley Samuels (Vice-President).
Attendees: see attendance log
Agenda Item 1: Light Rail Update, Mark Jones, Deputy Project Director, Capital Metro and Steven Sancberg Director, Engineering, TCCS.
Presentation by Mark Jones, Deputy Project Director, and Glenn Stockton, CEO Capital Metro, on the current state of the Light Rail installation
Current status of the project construction
50% of the rail is now installed and over 300 trees have been planted.
In Gungahlin Place civil and landscaping works will be completed by the end of June.
Roadside barriers are progressively being removed along the Gungahlin corridor.
Asphalting of roads and line marking will occur in spring.
Safety messages are important as the overhead wires are now live and carry 750 volts.
These are six metres above the road. A rigorous testing program will ensure the protection of the travelling public, especially trucks with over-height loads.
Pedestrians are encouraged to always cross at designated intersections and crossings. The rails are set in concrete grooves so bikes should always cross at right angles to avoid getting stuck. Basically people should obey the signals and normal road rules, which remain the same.
Questions from the floor
Agenda Item 2: Suzanne Orr MLA
Building Quality Inquiry
There is now a legislative assembly inquiry and submissions are invited.
Questions from floor
Gungahlin Town Centre East Community Park
An on-line survey is seeking views on the new community linear park indicating that people are very keen for green space. Ms Orr asked for this meeting’s views.
Ideas from the floor:
Minutes taken by Andrew Braddock
NEW LOCATION FOR THIS MONTH ONLY!! GUNGAHLIN CLUB, 51 Hinder St
Agenda
GCC Community Meeting
9 May 2018
Gungahlin Library
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Chair: Peter Elford (President).
Attendees: see attendance log
Agenda item 1: Update from Transport Canberra, Ben Hughes
Ben reported that the benefits will outweigh the pain of all the road and other construction. As well as road works we are also completing the town centre network for future growth.
Gundaroo Drive
Work is extending from Gungahlin east. We are constructing the bus station and the Light Rail, converting Hibberson St to a shared zone, upgrading Horse Park Drive and road-works on the Gungahlin East estates.
Questions from the Floor:
Gundaroo Drive is our most challenging project. It is about 9 months behind schedule because it runs along a high pressure gas main requiring permission to change. There was no space to move it so we had to dig and check the condition. It was 20 years old and could have been corroded. We couldn’t close the road completely to traffic. We plan to have all lanes open in a couple of months. Also Maryborough drive and new traffic lights will be finished soon.
Questions from the Floor:
Video re Stage 2 is online. We learnt from Stage 1 that having the contractor and the gas works carrying on at the same time increased risk. Thus we are moving gasworks before Stage 2 commences.
Question from the Floor:
Majura Drive to the Federal Highway Interchange
This has been delayed due to the impact of acid sulphate leaching out of bedrock. People may have noticed orange stains. When exposed it becomes an environmental risk. Giant mattresses have been designed to protect the environment from the Federal highway through to O’Sullivans Creek. We had to demonstrate to EPA that we could manage the problem. We now have approval. Simply burying was too expensive so we are now capping. Also using a layer of membrane. This allows us to keep it as a shared path. There is only one bridge over a creek thus allowing a shorter construction time. No big gas mains in way.
Question from the Floor:
Horse Park Drive
The section to Mulligan’s Flat is making good progress. We will soon switch traffic and work on new carriageway out past Katherine Ave West. We are also improving pedestrian access round schools. South of Valley Ave is proceeding including signals due to open about June. We are making good progress
Question from the Floor:
Hibberson St Shared Zone
We took options to the community and there was a call to make it more attractive to pedestrians. Being shared deters traffic in peak period but it is available to traffic in quiet times. It provides more outdoor space for people.
Questions from the Floor:
Gungahlin Bus Station
It is partially open and operating. Replacing old diesel buses with newer ones will improve things but for people living close by we have built a sound baffle. Landscaping there to be finished in next few weeks.
Answers to Other questions from the Floor
Agenda Item 2: Updates on other Gungahlin matters, Peter Elford
Gold Creek Country Club and Homestead
The Suburban Land Agency has issued a tender for sale of a large portion of the land in Ngunawal, which also contains the old homestead. Inspection has revealed that the building is not as derelict as feared. We are concerned as we have been informed that proposals for use of the land (i.e. bulldozing the heritage building) will not impact on choice of tender. GCC is concerned to retain the site for public purposes. Tenders close in June or July. Lend Lease are interested in the site for an aged care facility. That could work well in retaining the homestead as well.
Questions from the Floor:
Proposal for Tower Blocks on Gunderoo Drive.
The original proposal was for two towers but later extended to nine. The GCC and local businesses campaigned against that. The proposal has now been amended from 18 to 15 stories but has not been made available to the public. We have concerns about transparency and are waiting to hear about the process.
Questions from the Floor:
New Bus Services and Light Rail
Gungahlin Community Council raised concerns in August 2017 re lack of access to buses in outlying area and asked how things will change with Light Rail. We were informed there was now a consultation process re the new system. Transport Canberra have completed stage 1 of the consultation re the Rapid Bus Services. There were 628 responses of which 80% were public transport users. The majority was willing to walk further for a rapid response. Everyone wanted apps, preferably built into the existing apps. There were still concerns re services to out-lying areas. Stage 2 of the consultation will be launched in June with mud-maps of routes and where buses will intersect with the Light Rail. All day access and school services will be part of the general service. The goal is for no-one to walk more than 500m to a local service and 800m to the rapid service.
New routes for new suburbs and schools are planned and also inter-suburban links. A handout is available. The date for the next consultation is June 18.
Agenda Item 3: The Heart Foundation: Active Living Principles – Impact of Territory Plan Overview, Annie Kentwell and Colleagues
Why is the Heart Foundation interested in town planning? The way we design and build will influence active living in a population? We believe strategies for change should involve supportive environments for physical activity. Our focus is on increasing incidental activity in our lives. Living in a walkable neighbourhood with safe, attractive, supportive infrastructures promote health. Gungahlin is a car-dominated environment compared to Canberra’s Inner North. It lacks an urban environment that promotes active lifestyle of adults and children.
Questions from the Floor:
A Call Centre is coming and also some ACT shared services including possibly, a small Federal Government Department. The Light Rail is planning to have people standing on trains. Unfortunately apartments are more profitable for developers and government offices.
The Canberra Territory Plan is the first in Australia to begin implementing into strategic town planning such things as:
Easy and safe access environments for all ages
High quality open space
Mixed use land density
Active travel
Attractive supportive infrastructure
Wider paths
Minutes taken by Andrew Braddock
GCC Community Meeting
11 April 2018
Gungahlin Library
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Chair: Peter Elford (President).
Attendees: see attendance log
Agenda Item 1: Public Housing in Gungahlin
Bruce Fitzgerald, Executive Director Urban Renewal provided an update on public housing renewal taskforce progress, particularly in the Gungahlin area (presentation available via website).
Questions asked/comments from the floor included:
Agenda item 2: Gold Creek Golf Club Re:imagine
Harry Konstantinou and Helen Leayr presented on Re:imagine Gold Creek Golf Club (presentation available on website). The Golf Club has decided that its strategic direction is to shrink the playing area from the current approximately 80 hectares. This is to improve the financial viability of a course that has lost money for a considerable period of time on account of the cost of water.
The Kgroup has made no decisions what to do with the land identified as now longer being required for the golf course and is now seeking to engage with the community to explore the possibilities of the site. There has been no meetings between the Kgroup and the government about the proposal.
In the debate that followed with numerous questions asked in a variety of different ways and answers provided to one question address other issues. Capturing the main threads of the discussion below:
Concern/questions | Responses |
Number of holes | Plan to design a more compact course. Not looking specifically at a specific number of holes but feedback from golfers is for 18 holes. The configuration may however change to fit within 50 hectares. Have not consulted about decision to compact golf course. |
Is there a plan to change the zoning from PRZ2 | This is privately owned land. There is a process to change zoning of land. |
Role of the panel, makeup, consultative process opaque, no terms of reference, unknown selection process and final report? | Panel will be a filter or may identify what questions need to be asked. Did not want to define the process as wanted flexibility of the process. The panel is not expected to provide a report. |
Impact on neighbouring houses | Not looking to take anything away, want to preserve the values of homes in the area and create connections in the area. Ite is big enough with 40 m drop from clubhouse to Barton highway. Need to provide feedback on where is suitable for construction. |
Likely outcome. What the parameters are for consultation process – what is on and off the table? | Will explore every option. Have no preconceived ideas. If consultative process is not successful possibly would sell the course. |
History of course and purchase. Suggestion that purchased for peanuts and had not delivered on required investment | Course failed under first owner, taken over by gov and then sold through open tender.. Bought for $3 million. Not a concessional lease a copy is available from Access Canberra No contractual obligation to perform any works. Have 15,000m2 of development rights and have used approximately 3,000. No additional documentation, no drawings or designs were provided as part of the tender |
Management of the golf course. If the golf course is losing money – why did you buy it. | Brought it and thought could make a go of it. Have not cut any of the budget. Trying to make it break even whilst retain quality of the course. |
Community impacts (where will roads going to go, traffic? Schools in Nicholls are full).Open space used by non golfers – walkers | One of the challenges of community consultation need to examine further. |
Biggest issue is trust, messages to the community are shifting in the past week |
Gary Samuels (Harcourt Hill Residents Association) then spoke about how the proposal was putting green space at risk by development. Need community consultation that is open and transparent. He announced a group of concerned residents were meeting this Sunday 2:00 pm in Nicholls. As this process will become quite drawn out it will be an election issue. Have invited MLAs including Shane Rattenbury, Meegan Fitzharris, Alistair Coe and James Milligan.
Agenda item 3: Town centre planning refresh update
Suzanne (?) from Environment, Planning, Sustainable Development Directorate (EPSDD) provided an update on the Gungahlin town centre planning refresh proposals to be put forward in town centre planning refresh (presentation on website). Will present findings in May to community. Main themes are:
Major challenges being expanding population in Gungahlin but insufficient jobs for them, forces Gungahlin residents to commute given 55% of Canberra jobs located in city centre and triangle. 80% of residents go outside of Gungahlin to work.
Similar commercial office floor space allotted as per Woden in the plans but far less office space delivered than anticipated. Challenging for Gungahlin to grow to similar size as Belconnen and Woden (who are also having troubles maintaining their employment bases). Obviously these changes have had an impact. Gungahlin east assumed to deliver higher levels of commercial development however demand unlikely to occur to extent originally planned. Significantly moderated employment proposed and potential for residential development in Gungahlin East.
Travel Recommendations include
Long term travel recommendations include
Open spaces
Concerns/questions from the floor include
Agenda Item 4: Discussion on Gold Creek
Peter Elford provided an update on the GCCs concerns about the Suburban Development Agency’s sale of the block of land that includes the Gold Creek homestead. Comments against heritage are not part of selection criteria.GCC is making it visible so tenders are conscious of community views. Building has limited value but site is good with green space. Keen to have a development but one that preserves historical precinct and green space.The GCC would like to speak with tenderers.
Questions/concerns from the floor
Minutes taken by Andrew Braddock
GCC Community Meeting
14 March 2018
Gungahlin Library
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Chair: Peter Elford (President).
Attendees: see attendance log
Agenda Item 1: Active Canberra
David Geoffrey and Simon DeLacey from Active Canberra provided a presentation on the Existing and future provision of sporting infrastructure in Gungahlin which is available on the GG website.
Points of note included:
Question or concerns raised from the floor
Agenda item 2: James Milligan MLA update
James verbally briefed on the major issues/concerns that have come through his office since elected in 2016. These included:
Light rail stop in Mitchell – Mitchell contains 300 businesses and 4000 employees which does not include patronage from customers. Construction has had a big affect on businesses, 30-40% loss in trade. In NSW gov is offering financial reimbursement to businesses impact. A petition had been put together by Mitchell traders association for a stop to be built in Mitchell as part of stage 1 which he supports. Questioning how much extra would it cost to put it in as part of stage 1 or stage 2.
Questions
James also promised to provide a list of expired promises to the GCC to help hold Government to account.
Agenda item 2: Meegan Fitzharris MLA update
Meegan provided a verbal brief based on points earlier raised and questions from the floor. These included
Minutes taken by Andrew Braddock