Construction at the long-dormant Giralang shops site could begin as soon as August, bringing to an end residents' 13-year wait for a local shopping centre.
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Public submissions on the latest redevelopment proposal close on Friday. Developers Giralang Properties are proposing a four-storey mixed-use development that includes a 1000 square-metre supermarket and other shops on the ground floor, along with 50 residential apartments across three levels.
The Giralang Residents Action Group supports the plan, and if the ACT government provides a positive notice of decision and there are no appeals, the developers hope to start building in August.
The north Canberra site has been the subject of four failed redevelopment bids since 2005, including one in which construction began on a 1500 square-metre supermarket, only to be halted by a court challenge from three surrounding supermarkets.
Those plans were eventually abandoned and the ACT government has since limited supermarket developments to 1000 square metres, leading Woolworths to scrap its plans to be the site's anchor tenant.
Giralang Properties director Dimitri Nikias said that after such a long wait, it was time to move on and give the community its shops back.
“This is not just about commercial, political, and legal wrangling. This is personal for me," Mr Nikias said.
"My family was one of the first in the suburb in the 1970s and I lived there for 30 years. My father and uncles owned and built the original shops and ran the first supermarket."
Mr Nikias, who also runs construction company Nikias Diamond, said he was buoyed by the community's support for his latest proposal, but history had shown there were no guarantees in Giralang.
“We have a prime opportunity in the current public comments period to send a strong message to government that it’s time to move on," he said.
"For that to happen, people simply can’t be part of the positive, but silent majority. They need to let the government know that they’re on board."
The Giralang Residents Action Group has written a lengthy submission on the proposal, outlining its support for the proposed development while proposing a number of changes that it says would enhance the project's long-term appeal and viability.
Among the proposed changes is a reduction in the number of apartments in order to ease the impact of the development on parking and traffic flow in the area. The group also wants a two-hour time limit on all parking spaces allocated to shoppers.
Mr Nikias said he had already heard and acted on the group's concerns about parking, having previously reduced the number of planned apartments from 54 to 50 while retaining the number of parking spaces required for 54 units.
"There has effectively been a net increase in parking spaces over and above what we’re required to provide under the ACT code," he said.
"There will also be 22 dedicated shoppers’ car parks under the building, and a further 50 spaces at ground level.”
The development application includes a number of off-site works, including the reconfiguration of the nearby Giralang Primary School car park and a commitment to match the ACT government's contribution of up to $100,000 for the construction of a community park.
