The Property Council has congratulated Lord Mayor of Adelaide-elect, Stephen Yarwood and called on Adelaide City Council to heed the public call for a new direction for the city.
Property Council SA Division Executive Director Nathan Paine said the Lord Mayor-elect’s mandate was to deliver a revitalised city that appeals to all generations and attracts the nation’s best and brightest.
He warned against attempts to stymie the achievement of that vision.
“The electorate has quite clearly voted for a new direction and a new way of thinking about our city,” Mr Paine said.
“It is incumbent on all Councillors to work together to drive Adelaide into the future rather than keeping it mired in the past.
“From the indications so far, and with many former Councillors either contesting the Lord Mayoral contest or retiring, the rest of the Council will be comprised of some old faces, along with some new ones.
“For too long we have allowed our city to deteriorate. Now is the time for action, now is the time to deliver the city that every South Australian deserves; the new Council must get firmly behind Lord Mayor-elect Yarwood’s push to leave the old way of doing things in the past.”
Lord Mayor-elect Yarwood’s victory closely follows the Property Council’s latest statements calling for a new approach to our city.
The Powerhouse City paper seeks to crystalise the key issues that hold the City back from its potential and transform Adelaide from a sleepy town of the past into a Powerhouse City of the future.
The Property Council will be seeking an urgent meeting with the new Lord Mayor and all Councillors to present its manifesto for reinvigorating the City.
“It goes without saying that what happens within our city has impacts that reach far beyond ward boundaries in the Adelaide City Council area.
“This really is that last chance for the Adelaide City Council to prove that it has the right and capability to manage and evolve our state’s greatest asset,” Mr Paine said.
“If Councillors rally against the Lord Mayor-elect’s platform, they will be clearly out of step with the will of the local electorate and the broader South Australian community and they will lose their right to govern.”
A summary of key recommendations in the Powerhouse CBD paper follows.
Recommendations
1. The State Government must designate the City as a Zone of State Significance and take responsibility for planning and development assessment.
2. Lift height limits in areas where there is (or could reasonably be expected to be) demand for high-density residential development:
• along West/South/East Terraces;
• around Hurtle and Whitmore Squares;
• along Morphett and Pulteney Streets (south);
• across the northwest corner of the City (to capitalise on the new hospital and medical research institute precinct);
• along Greenhill Road, Fullarton Road and Dequetteville Terrace (to create opportunities for Parklands-facing apartment living);
• within the expanded Mixed Use Zone (to the southwest and southeast of the existing zone boundary).
3. Amend the current planning rules applying to heritage and heritage-adjacent sites to promote their redevelopment while preserving street-visible heritage fabric, including by:
• removing onerous “retention depth” requirements;
• removing height restrictions for heritage-adjacent sites; and
• promoting innovative design treatments that will allow development yields to be maximised while protecting heritage fabric.
4. Remove unnecessary planning controls that are a barrier to the City’s competitiveness, including:
• setback angles in core CBD areas (which currently require unfeasibly small floorplates at upper levels and prevent the City competing with large floorplate development proposals in suburban areas);
• minimum unit sizes for student housing and serviced apartments;
• glazing and enclosure of road-facing balconies; and
• obstacles to community-titling apartment buildings to allow individual ownership of (and hence investment in) residential units.
5. Introduce a site consolidation program to buy up non-conforming or obsolete buildings and/or underutilised small holdings and amalgamate these to form more versatile development-ready parcels.
6. Create programs that encourage companies to relocate into the City from interstate, including by considering subsidies on cost imposts such as stamp duty, land tax and rates.
7. Exempt City developments from Open Space Contribution requirements in recognition of expected housing and lifestyle standards and ready access to existing public spaces.
8. Expedite a City tram loop that connects key squares, residential locations and business and retail precincts to encourage regeneration of underutilised spaces and exploit lifted height restrictions (as per Recommendation 2).
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