The Dickson shopping centre development will result in small bedsitters perched on top of new supermarkets, only one story above noisy loading bays and smelly garbage compactors, according to architect and planning activist Jack Kershaw.
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He also says the ACT Government has gone too far and allowed the developers to build too many units in the project, resulting in many units having bedrooms without windows.
"This isn't 'urban renewal', it's instant urban blight. This private sector planning has gone way too far," he has told the ACT Government.
"The site overdeveloped? No, Canberra needs a bit of low-grade slum development."
The carpark outside the Woolworths at Dickson will be redeveloped, to house a Coles and an Aldi supermarket, both facing Woolworths, a five-storey apartment block containing 155 units, an underground car park and a large loading dock and waste collection area facing Antill Street.
Small traders at the shopping centre are worried they could go out of business due to lack of parking during the two to three-year construction period of the project.
The work will involve up to 220 workers with 200 vehicles at its peak and will result in 237 car spaces lost.
The deadline for public comments on the project has been extended to Tuesday, February 10, after residents complained the consultation period was initially during the holidays.
The original plan threatened a small park near the Dickson pool, with 27 trees due to be cut down for a temporary car park during the construction of the underground car parks in the new development.
Protests by residents forced the ACT Government to halt the plan and call for negotiations between the developer and the owners of the former site of the ACTTAB, now a vacant lot, for its use as a car park.
The units are priced from $325,000 for the smallest of the one-bedroom units and could be appealing to Asian investors who have children studying at ANU or the University of Canberra.
The marketing literature says each unit has an Electrolux wok and induction cradle, the "latest in contemporary cooking technology [that] provides fast and focused heat that allows for traditional Asian wok cooking".
Mr Kershaw said he believed the siting of the units above the loading docks was unprecedented in Canberra.
"They want to absolutely maximise the number of units and the government is only too happy to go along with that because they get an increased premium for the land," he said on Monday.
"You have to draw the line somewhere about proximity of certain things.
"I just think they have gone too far by putting flats one floor above a double loading dock for two supermarkets.
"There will be semitrailers coming and going and they will have a garbage compactor operating.
"I would've thought this was an opportunity if they were serious about urban renewal."
Mr Kershaw is also concerned at the "blighting" of Antill Street.
"It's being treated as if it's just a service lane. It's very rare to have loading docks for such a development on a main street," he said.
Mr Kershaw said the building code does not require every bedroom to have a window.
"I'm not sure where the market is coming from for a one-bedroom flat with an in-board bedroom," he said.
Dickson residents say an estimated 800 cars per hour will be exiting the basement carpark in the new development during peak periods.
They say it appears half the units will be facing south, with no sunny balconies to dry clothes on.
Many residents may stop going to the now popular library, owing to noise, dust and vibration during the construction, putting the long-term viability of the facility in doubt.
