A 7 storey development proposed for 246-252 Unley Road has drawn the attention of many. First cab off the rank under the recently approved development plan amendment for Unley Road it tests the parameters that were agreed by the Unley residents, Council, DPTI and the Minister for Planning John Rau

It is also the first development in Unley valued over $ 3.0 m that will be assessed under the State Government’s revised planning regime by the Development Assessment Commission. It is a project that is 7 stories in a precinct earmarked fro a maximum of 5 so that raises the eyebrows of all and sundry.

This project presents many questions and challenges to many of us, least of all Council and the residents of this inner suburban council. First and foremost  is the question as to what precedence this project presents for future development on Unley Road. It also raises the question as to how the Government’s Development Assessment Commission will deal with the application.

Both these questions remain unanswered at this time.

It also raises the question as to what involvement and/or influence Council will have on this and subsequent development applications along Unley Road and/or Greenhill Road. Officially Council gets no input other than from independent member of our Development assessment panel that gets to sit on the Commission to review the application.

Having said that Council has received the courtesy of making a submission and we have. And council have.

Yes Council at it’s January meeting in a motion moved by myself indicated general support for the development but that requests the matters raised in report provided to this meeting of council be given further consideration as part of the assessment process.. That motion also authorized our Chief Executive Officer to negotiate appropriate outcomes with the developer in regard to public realm upgrade, zone boundary interface, car parking provision and encroachments.

This he has done and a copy of our submission to the Development assessment Commission can be found on the Unley website. It is a nine page document and I invite anyone who has concerns either about the project or about Council’s position to read it.

It is in my opinion an extensive and a responsible approach to influencing the final design.