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ISSUES - HILL CORNER

October 2008

Residents approached eight political parties with candidates for the forthcoming election for the ACT Legislative Assembly, to seek assurances that they will support the maintenance of the designation of the Hill Corner Park as Urban Open Space. Residents are exercising vigilance to preserve this parkland, following the rezoning of its land use from Community Facility to Urban Open Space in the restructured Territory Plan in March 2008.

The following candidates or parties have given explicit written support for the preservation of the current zoning of Hill Corner parkland (Block 3, Section 69) as urban open space:

ACT Greens (Shane Rattenbury)
Australian Motorist Party
Canberra Party (Richard Mulchay)
Liberal Party of Australia (ACT Division)
Pangallo Independents Party

Responses have not yet been received from the Free Range Party (which is not standing candidates), Liberal Democratic Party, and Community Alliance Party (ACT).

There was no need to approach the Australian Labor Party because the rezoning of the Hill Corner parkland as urban open space was achieved through the strong support of Simon Corbell and Andrew Barr in their successive roles as Minister for Planning in 2007.

May 2008

The ACT Administrative Appeals Tribunal handed down its decision on ACTPLA's approval of the Development Application by St Nicholas School Ltd to increase the St Nicholas Greek-Australian Pre School and Child Care Centre at Hill Corner from 18 to 40 children. The AAT made a variation to the Crown lease to allow the premises to be used 'only for the purpose of a preschool and childcare centre for a maximum of 30 children, with a maximum of 15 [of these] children at the premises for the purposes of attending a childcare centre'. The limit on the number of children reflects the different parking requirements for preschool and child care places. The decision reflects a revised proposal submitted to the AAT Hearing, in which the developer proposed to reduce the number of child places from 40 to 30, but not to reduce the size of the building.

March 2008

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has reserved its decision on the review of the conditional approval by ACTPLA of the Development Application by St Nicholas School Ltd. The DA proposed to increase the size of the St Nicholas Greek-Australian Pre School and Child Care Centre at Hill Corner from 18 to 40 children. However, the developer has submitted a revised proposal to reduce the number of places to 30.
Four of the original objectors to the DA appeared at the hearing on 26-28 February 2008. The residents contended that the conditional approval was not an appropriate decision, because the scale of the proposed enterprise was too large for this location, and because parking and traffic impacts had not been adequately assessed before granting the approval. The AAT decision is pending.

December 2007

Mediation on the pre-school redevelopment has been unsuccessful to date, but negotiations are continuing with the developer's architect. An Administrative Appeals Tribunal hearing is scheduled for late February in case mediation does not succeed.

November 2007

Following the Development Application (April 2007) for a new enlarged preschool at Hill Corner (Section 62, Block 2) seven objections were lodged with ACTPLA - six objections from individual residents and a group objection by 45 residents. The DA was approved on 3 October 'with conditions'. We understand that further drawings have been lodged with ACTPLA to meet these conditions. At this stage it appears that the only way to access these additional drawings is through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Four of the individual objectors have now lodged applications to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review the decision. An attempt to lodge a group application to the AAT, supported by 26 residents, has been suspended. Advice from ACTPLA and the AAT suggests that the standing of the Hill Corner group before the AAT is quite likely to be legally challenged before the AAT. This would result in the group being excluded from the appeals process and forfeiting the application fee of $165.

The remnant of the former Hill Corner parkland (Section 62, Block 3) has been rezoned from Community Facility to Urban Open Space. This should protect the park from any future sale and development. Residents are now examining the Development Codes in the restructured Territory Plan to understand what protection is afforded Urban Open Space.

17 July 2007: Andrew Barr, Minister for Planning, agreed to change
the land use policy for the Hill Corner parkland from Community
Facility to Urban Open Space, and proposed that the change be
implemented by incorporating it in the restructured Territory Plan.

4 June 2007: Letter to Andrew Barr, Minister for Planning, requesting his support for the protection of the Hill Corner park as Urban Open Space.

17 May: Hill Corner Residents' response (PDF 580kb) to the proposed expansion of St Nicholas Preschool (Development Application 200601605). The proposed development would more than double the size of the preschool,with a large new building, less than half the acceptable standard setback, only 4 off-street car parking places, and the conversion of their nature strip in Hill Corner to car parking. At least another tree will need to be removed. Comments should be sent to the ACT Planning Authority at ACTPLA Secretariat app.sec@act.gov.au.

24 April 2007: ACT Government media release "A pocket park in Hill Corner, Yarralumla, is to be protected and retained as Urban Open Space, Member for Molonglo Simon Corbell announced today.Mr Corbell, in his previous position as the ACT Planning Minister, had asked the ACT Planning and Land Authority to prepare a variation to the Territory plan to protect the area referred to as a pocket park in Hill Corner, adjacent to Weston and Maxwell streets in Yarralumla. This follows representations over a number of years from the Yarralumla Residents Association Hill Corner Subcommittee.“I considered the arguments put forward by the association, and agreed with the residents that the area, which is currently designated a Community Facility land use, should be protected by designating it as Urban Open Space.”The Planning and Land Authority will initiate the process of varying the Territory Plan through the processes defined under the Land (Planning and Environment) Act.“The community representatives have made a compelling case for what they regard as their ‘historic and treasured’ park, and I consider that it is important to protect the park for future generations,” Mr Corbell said.“The park is the site of the old Yarralumla Pre-School and is an important piece of history for the local community.”

16 April 2007: Hill Corner Park (Section 62, Block 3). Simon Corbell, as Minister for Planning, wrote to the group confirming that he had discussed the matter with ACTPLA and asked the Authority to prepare a variation to the Territory Plan to change the land use policy from Community Facilities to Urban Open Space

11 April 2007: Hill Corner Park (Section 62, Block 3). A group of representatives of residents met with Minister for Planning Simon Corbell about protecting Hill Corner Park as park. The Minister agreed with the views expressed by the residents and said he would discuss the matter with ACTPLA and ask them to make arrangements to change the land use policy of the block to Urban Open Space

• Background prepared by Hill Corner residents, March 2007