East Lake plan sets out multi-storey vision for Causeway redevelopment

The Causeway, first settled in 1925, has long been earmarked for redevelopment, with the ACT government finally releasing an updated East Lake place plan on Thursday.

The plan includes upgrades to the Canberra railway station, a park and recreational area on the site of a former landfill on the edge of the Jerrabomberra Wetlands and an "innovation precinct" and business hub around Mildura Street.

Buildings up to eight storeys could be built around an upgraded transport hub, the plan said.

Planning Minister Mick Gentleman said the plan would help the government transform an underutilised area into a thriving, mixed-use precinct.

"We'd like to see work start fairly quickly. ... There is demand for housing right across Canberra, so the quicker we can deliver housing, the better for Canberra," Mr Gentleman said.

The Planning Minister said he wanted to see the renewal of public housing in The Causeway but said there would not necessarily be the same number of public housing dwellings in the same area.

"Certainly there'd be a real increase in the dwellings there and an opportunity for some community housing as well," hes said.

Mr Gentleman said the Planning Directorate had already started some internal work to deliver the precinct.

"This area will offer diverse housing choices, particularly in The Causeway area. In the longer term, it will look at the proposed mixed-use redevelopment of the railway station precinct as a transport hub," Mr Gentleman had earlier said in a statement.

"Excitingly, it will have sustainable, connected green links, opportunities for community facilities and spaces for play, rest, exercise, and event spaces."

The precinct would include medium density, social and community housing, along with a mixed-use precinct around the upgraded railway station that could become a future multi-modal transport hub.

A school could be built beside the the Causeway Hall, which was built in 1925 by volunteers and is the last remaining substantial building from the original settlement of The Causeway.

The hall, which is currently home to a rotating roster of theatre companies, would become a "central community activity hub".

"Upgrading and adaptive use will celebrate its significance to Canberrans as a continuing community place. The mini-precinct will be co-located with a children's play area (with a new public toilet facility)," the East Lake place plan said.

The plan forecasts the area becoming home to "young progressives", who "have passionate views on what a sustainable future of their city should look like", and others with "established lifestyles", who "have lived in the area for a while and want rich and diverse places to relax, either through volunteering at the wetlands or enjoying the area's natural beauty with family and friends".

The area will also support artisanal traders, who will continue the area's history of light industry and manufacturing, along with volunteers and knowledge workers.

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The president of the Kingston and Barton Residents' Group, Richard Johnston, said he was surprised the plan had been put out for public comment with no warning or opportunities to meet with the consultants or the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate.

Mr Johnston said he was also eager to have more information from the government on which areas would be developed first in the East Lake area.

"There's no discussion that I can see in the documents about the future housing of the current Causeway residents," Mr Johnston said.

"What's happening with them, we don't know?"

The Causeway was first home to workers on some of the ACT's earliest building projects, including the provisional parliament house and the Sydney and Melbourne buildings.

It was redeveloped in the 1970s when weatherboard homes were torn down and replaced with brick houses.

The government has previously committed to providing public housing in the redeveloped Causeway area.

The new plan said work to promote a mix of housing in the area was a "medium term" goal, but did not set a date by which the work would begin.

"East Lake will be well positioned to provide diverse, social and affordable housing choices close to public transport, open spaces and community services," the plan said, noting the government had committed to ensuring 15 per cent of its annual release of housing land would be for affordable, community and public housing.

Then-housing minister John Hargreaves told residents of The Causeway in February 2009 they would be able to stay in the redeveloped suburb.

If residents did not want to move to a unit, alternative accommodation in the inner south would be found, he said.

Mr Gentleman told The Canberra Times in 2015 that the plan for the East Lake redevelopment, including The Causeway, was in its final stages.

But then the government in September 2019 said it was in the "early planning phase" for future development in the area.

The latest plan also includes a new information centre near the Jerrabomberra Wetlands and better connections to the Canberra Institute of Technology's trade skills centre on Mildura Street, Fyshwick.

The government had sought a lead consultant for the project's planning and urban design early in 2022, and opened community consultation on the development of the East Lake plan in July 2022.

Feedback on the plan is open until May 18.

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