The Property Council supports the following elements of the proposed planning scheme amendment.
- The removal of non-prescribed special merit.
- The change to above ground level (AGL) based height limits instead of the Australian Height
Datum.
- The maximum height limit to be taken from the highest street frontage.
Other elements in the Proposed Planning Scheme Amendment are too rigid, inflexible, and represent a significant loss of development potential and consequential land values for property owners. We believe that the proposed amendmentwill not provide nor allow effective urban development in the Darwin CBD.
As a minimum, a number of elements must be addressed to attempt to make the proposed amendment model workable and financially sustainable. We recommend:
- A cross sectional volume control of 80% apply to the length of each side for Tier 2.
- That the Tier 2 commences at 30m above ground level.
- That a set back of 6m applies from the major street frontage only.
- For buildings where the total height of the building is less than 42m AGL development up to 100%
of the site areas be allowed to be developed.
