The ACT government has backed down on the plan to allow six-storey apartment blocks at the Red Hill shops, setting a maximum of four storeys for the buildings that will replace the public housing flats.
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The Red Hill shops proposal, which was to have rezoned the site behind the shops to the high-density RZ5 zone, attracted vehement opposition from the community, with 97 submissions, most against the scale of development.
Planning Minister Mick Gentleman said on Thursday the development would be scaled back to a maximum of four stories. With no further detail available, residents remained in the dark on Thursday about what has been approved in place of the original proposal.
Mr Gentleman also approved zone changes for the ageing Gowrie Court and Stuart Flats public housing units in Narrabundah and Griffith, which are also to be bulldozed to make way for new apartment blocks. Both have been approved for high-density RZ5 developments.
Mr Gentleman said the current plan was to sell the Red Hill precinct in the 2016-17 year, the Stuart Flats in 2017-18 and Gowrie Court in 2018-19, but that could change.
The government was yet to decide when the flats would be demolished and whether the government or developer would do the demolition.
He said all of the sites were well placed for high-density housing. But while up to six storeys would be allowed at Griffith and Narrabundah, the Red Hill apartments would be limited to four.
La Perouse Street and Cygnet Crescent in Red Hill are also to be included in the government's "street improvement program" to lessen the impact of the extra residents on local roads.
The Red Hill flats were built in 1960, Stuart Flats near Manuka in 1959, and Gowrie Court in Narrabundah in 1959. Between them, there are 362 units – 144 at Red Hill, 146 in the Stuart Flats, and 72 in Gowrie Court.
More than 1200 apartments are expected once the three blocks are sold and redeveloped, although the government has not confirmed these figures. The number of dwellings would be determined at development application stage, it said.
Red Hill Residents Group chairperson Melissa Bennett welcomed the change to four storeys as "moving in the right direction" but said the community wanted no more than two to three storeys. High-density development was not appropriate for a local centre, she said.
"We don't know whether or not the entire thing has been raised to four storeys," she said, referring to the earlier proposal to step down the development from six storeys near the shops to fewer storeys closer to existing homes. It is unclear what the new proposal will allow.
Ms Bennett, who was awaiting detail on how many units would be allowed, also pointed to the lack of specific height limits, with the possibility of basement parking.
"We're still concerned because really RZ5 has so few controls in it," she said.
Stuart Rogers, who lives directly opposite the development area, was also eager to see the detail, saying even if it was two storeys lower, the development would still be a "monstrosity" unless other factors had also been changed.
