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City Planning & Sustainability | BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL

The Gap Neighbourhood PlanCommunity Planning TeamMeeting notes

Meeting 5–26 October 2017


Notes from The Gap Neighbourhood Plan

Community Planning TeamMeeting 5

Meeting details

Date:Thursday 26 October 2017

Time:6pm

Location:Walkabout Creek Function Centre

Attendees

Community planning team members:

Alexie, Ann, Beatrice, Christopher, Craig, Geoffrey, James, Kate, Lisa, Marion, Monika, Nick, Peter and Simon.

Council officers:

Sean Cullen (Neighbourhood Planning and Urban Renewal Manager), Sonia Kirby (Principal Urban Planner, Neighbourhood Planning), Jennifer Einam, Nathan Bambling, Elizabeth Butterworth and Annete Armstrong (Neighbourhood Planning).

Elected Representatives and other Observers:

Councillor Steve Toomey (Councillor for the Ward of The Gap), and Matt Adams (Policy Advisor to Councillor Julian Simmonds, Chair of City Planning).

Apologies:

CPT membersBrandon, Bruce, Deborah, Denise, Geoff, John, Mark, Nathan,Nick,Sharon and Tim; Councillor Julian Simmonds (Chair of City Planning).

Agenda

  • Welcome, introductions and agenda
  • The Gap neighbourhood plan draft strategy
  • How you can be involved
  • Next steps and thank you

Welcomeandintroductions

Sonia Kirby acknowledged the traditional owners of the meeting place and the project area, and welcomed everybody to the fifth and finalCommunity Planning Team (CPT) meeting for The Gap Neighbourhood Plan.

Sonia welcomed everyone back and recapped on what the project team had been working on since the last CPT meeting. A recap was provided of the community consultation activities undertaken so far, and the range of feedback received to date and how the community feedback to date had been used to develop a draft strategy for The Gap.

Sonia spoke about the neighbourhood planning process, noting this meeting marks a significant project milestone, with the draft strategy to be released for public consultation the following day, Friday 27October.

Context to the draft strategy was provided as the release of the draft strategy marks the commencement of a six-week community consultation period. The comments received from the community during this period will be considered as part of the drafting the statutory neighbourhood plan. The preparation of a draft neighbourhood plan is the first step of the formal planning scheme amendment process, as prescribed by Queensland planning legislation. The draft Neighbourhood Plan will be placed on formal public notification, once it has been reviewed by the State Government, and prior to being adopted.

A final strategy will also be developed, which is an innovation being piloted for The Gap. This document is not required by legislation and is intended to report back on non-statutory matters raised by the community.

Sonia acknowledged the presence of Councillor Steve Toomey, Councillor for The Gap, and Matt Adams, Policy Advisor to Councillor Simmonds, as observers. Sonia then introduced Jennifer Einam, Neighbourhood Planning, to present the key elements of the draft strategy.

The Gap neighbourhood plan draft strategy

Jennifer introduced the draft strategy to the group, noting that it was embargoed until its official release the next day, Friday 27 October. Copies of the draft strategy were made available for CPT members to peruse, as were maps for each table. As overall context, The Gap is expected to experience low population growth over the next 10 years, of around 700-900 additional people on the current population of around 17,000 people.

The input received from The Gap community so far broadly falls into four themes around housing, centres, environment and parks, and community spaces and connections. These four common matters form the themes of the draft strategy:

  1. Housing for all
  2. Centres for village life
  3. Green and leady spaces
  4. Community connections.

Jennifer noted that all the ideas and concepts in the draft strategy have been derived through considering numerous information sources, including community feedback, specialist advice from consultants, and Council’s own technical analysis. The purpose of the draft strategy is to test these ideas and concepts with the wider community and obtain community feedback.

The Vision for The Gap was presented, which had varied little from the draft vision the CPT members had put together during the meetings in 2016.

The Strategy snapshot map was covered next. This is a key map in the draft strategy and also appears in the newsletter. The purpose of this map is to confirm the future landuse of key sites in The Gap. These sites are either currently undeveloped, or have recently been developed. In both cases, the current zoning of these properties may not accurately reflect the desired intent for the future. Jennifer noted that several of the sites were ones that were covered in previous CPT meetings.

Each of the four themes and supporting strategies were then covered in more detail, reiterating that these were ideas only, and the purpose of this document, and stage of the project, is to gain feedback from the community.

Jennifer referred all to the Ambassador Packs distributed, and advised that Council invites all CPT members to become Ambassadors for the Neighbourhood Plan, not to speak on behalf of Council, rather to help raise awareness about the project and share their personal experiences and reflections, about both the process and the outcomes, with their networks.

Ambassadors were also asked to encourage people within their networks, their neighbours and others, to have their say, especially through the interactive online feedback tool and interactive map and Information Kiosks.

Community consultation - How you can be involved

Jennifer introduced another innovation for The Gap, being the new online feedback tool and interactive map. This technology is new for Neighbourhood Planning and offers an easy, quick and transparent method of communicating with residents who usually may not provide comment. It does not replace the traditional feedback mechanisms, of email, telephone and writing, but rather adds to the suite of tools available to community members to provide feedback.

Nathan Bambling and Elizabeth Butterworth were introduced to demonstrate how the interactive online feedback form worked, including how to find the website, how to answer survey questions, find information about key sites and concepts, leave comments, agree or disagree with comments from others, and load photos.

An offer for one-on-one tutorial at the end of the meeting was made to all CPT members.

Elizabeth presented the dates for the information kiosks at The Gap Village, being Wednesday 1 November and Thursday 2 November, and reminded everyone of the closing date of 8 December 2017. The kiosks dates, closing date, and link for the project webpage and online feedback tool, are all contained in the newsletter which will be delivered to every household in the plan area from 30 October. Absentee landowners will be posted their copy of the newsletter

Elizabeth advised that a media release, advertisement in the local newspaper and signage at popular bus stops and parks would also let the wider community know about their opportunity to comment.

Next steps

Elizabeth recapped on the next steps of the final strategy and draft neighbourhood plan, both to be released in 2018.

Contact details for the team were provided, and the CPT members invited to contact the team at any time. Elizabeth then thanked everyone for coming and opened for questions.

Questions

  • How has the estimated population of 700-900 additional people been calculated?

This is a projection of the additional number of people expected to be living within The Gap over the next decade. This projection isdetermined by various factors, such as changes in demographics, the expected number of dwellings based on city-wide assumptions for current land use zones, and the occupancy rates for those dwellings. Land use changesin the neighbourhood plan area could increase or decrease these projections.

  • Was an increased minimum lot size included in the draft strategy, as this is a concept that was discussed during the previous CPT meetings?

The draft strategy does not include proposals to change the minimum lot size allowed in the residential zone, hence the standard Brisbane City Plan 2014 provisions would still apply based on the draft Strategy. CPT members and community are encouraged to provide feedback on this matter in their submissions on the draft Strategy. NOTE: A fact sheet regarding the standard provisions has been provided to all CPT members in the Ambassadors Pack and is available on Council’s website. All City Plan fact sheets are available on Council’s website.

  • Is anything proposed for the other local shops that are marked with a blue star on the strategy snapshot map?

The draft strategy does not propose changesto these local shops. They area identified in the draft Strategy as part of the network of the key local landmarks and meeting spaces for locals. CPT members and community are encouraged to provide feedback on this matter in their submissions on the draft Strategy.

  • Could an information kiosk be held on a Saturday which was a busier day for the shopping centre?

Thanks for the suggestion. The team will monitor attendance at the kiosks and consider adding additional kiosks and face-to-face activities based on the level of interest from the community and opportunities available. Community members would be advised of any additional events. NOTE: in the e-burst released to launch the draft strategy, there were additional opportunities to meet with Neighbourhood Planning team members. These opportunities are the Talk to a planner sessions on Wednesday 8 November and Plan your Brisbane events. For more detail on these, please go to Council’s website or use the links in your e-burst.

  • Where exactly in The Gap Village will the kiosk be?

Inside the shopping centre, outside the Coles.

  • Could the community consultation period be longer?

Six weeks is generally the standard timeframe for this type of consultation activity for draft Strategy documents and other draft documents that Council releases. Council does undertake this phase of consultation above and beyond the regulatory requirements. It is important to note, that there is another public notification process for the draft Neighbourhood Plan when it is released. The closing date is also the last day of school. It is preferable to not be undertaking consultation activities on school holidays as people may be away.

  • Has SEQWater been engaged as part of developing the draft strategy?

They havenot. The master plans and publicly available planning documents for the Enoggera Reservoir and Walkabout Creek have been considered as part of the draft strategy.

  • As neighbourhood plans override the City Plan, is there a possibility of protecting the current residential nature by limiting development? The Gap residents have been concerned about density since the petition in 2013, and have been consistent in this message through the CPT meetings in 2016.

Neighbourhood plans may provide variations to other parts of the planning scheme (for example, zone codes). It is possible for a neighbourhood plan to limit density when it is appropriate to do so, and this is part of the conversation which is being continued with the release of the draft strategy.

  • Will the background reports and technical analysis be made available?

These reports won’t be released. The findings are reflected or reproduced in the draft strategy.

  • The ideas of limiting one to two subdivisions, and increasing the minimum lot size required for units in residential zones from 3000sqm were discussed at the CPT meetings. Can you confirm the draft strategy doesn’t include these ideas? How can these be included?

It was acknowledged that these ideas were discussed at the meetings. The ideas that were raised during the CPT meetings have been considered, along with other community inputs, and technical analysis. These two ideas are not included in the draft strategy.

The draft strategy must balance a range of competing interests, views and technical studies and planning outcomes. CPT members and community are encouraged to provide feedback on this matter in their submissions on the draft strategy. For more information about provisions relating to subdivision, City Plan fact sheets are available on Council’s website.

  • The strategy snapshot map doesn’t show all new developments, for example, Illowra Street and the Retire Australia proposed development on the Ashgrove Golf Course. All developments should be shown on this map, not just some. This map should be reprinted to show all developments, and sent to everyone.

The ‘strategy snapshot’ map presented in the draft strategy is intended to show the key places and key strategies proposed. As identified in the map legend, the map illustrates the future land use of several sites that are within the Emerging Community zone or Rural zone and have been recently developed or had development approved. The purpose of this map is not to show the status of all development applications and recent approvals in the local area (information about development applications and/or approvals can be found on the Planning and Development Online page on Council’s website). CPT members and community are encouraged to provide feedback on this matter in their submissions on the draft Strategy.

  • People want to be involved in the process but not if they feel they are only hearing half the story. The draft strategy contains some good ideas but the density of development in residential and emerging community zones has been overlooked. There was concern expressed that CPT members have the advantage of learning more about planning through this process. As such, community members that have not been at the CPT may not understand the implications of not changing planning provisions regarding subdivision and minimum lot size.

This comment is noted.

  • How can townhouses be built there if the land is not rezoned first?

The planning framework in Queensland allows for applications to made over sites regardless of their zoning. The intended future use of the land generally is represented in the zoning and relevant site constraints are noted in the planning scheme as overlays. If the application is for a use not consistent with this intended future use, it will require public notification and the community may comment on it.

An application for townhouses would be assessed on its merits with regard to the Council’s planning scheme and any other relevant matters. Facts sheets aboutthe planning scheme are available on Council’s website.

Kate (CPT Member) offered a vote of thanks to the planning team from the CPT members for preparing and presenting the draft strategy, and for the opportunity for the community to be involved.

Councillor Toomey offered his thanks to all community members for taking time away from their families to contribute to Council’s work on the project. He also thanked the Council officers for their hard work on the neighbourhood plan and all of their background work contributing to the ongoing success of the neighbourhood plan project.

Sonia then thanked all present for their enthusiastic and passionate contributions over the five CPT meetings. Sonia strongly encouraged CPT members and the community to ensure in their feedback that they informed Council of the aspects of the draft Strategy that they supported, those that they did not support, matters that should be addressed but are not currently included in the plan, and where possible, provide suggestions and recommendations in submissions and feedback.

Minutes from the meeting will be sent to CPT members via email and be made available on the website. Additional input and comment is welcome at any time and should be directed to the Neighbourhood Planning Brisbane team using the contact details below.

The meeting closed at 7.35pm.

Further contact

Phone:3403 8888

Email:

Web: and search for ‘The Gap’

Minutes checked/approved

Checked: / AA
Approved:

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