Darwin Inner Suburbs Area Plan

We held a number of serious concerns surrounding the rezoning of land on Jolly Street, Bishop Street, Damaso Place, Snell Street and Charlton Court from Zone GI (General Industry) to Zone SC (Service Commercial).

In general, we did support the adoption of the Darwin Inner Suburbs Plan but we felt that a reasonable and responsible timeframe must be applied to endorsing rezoning changes given the current market conditions.

We expressed to the Planning Department that we failed to understand why there is an urgent need to act immediately on the rezoning from General Industry to Service Commercial.

The adoption of the rezoning should be delayed pending a detailed Master Plan of the subject area. This Plan should cover various issues including parking, pedestrian crossings, traffic flow, alfresco dining, liquor licencing options and so forth.

Darwin’s commercial vacancy rate has jumped up 9.8% and this was largely due to -18,727 sqm of net absorption and 16,286 sqm of supply additions.

We submitted a response to the proposed amendment that offered potential solutions and recommendations.

 The Minister for Lands and Planning, the Hon David Tollner, altered the proposal and approved the amendment.

Alterations to the proposal included:

• introduction of requirements for the preparation of a master plan to guide development of  6, 16 and 25 Blake Street, The Gardens;
• introduction of standards for managing building height transitions between new and existing buildings at 6, 16 and 25 Blake Street, The Gardens;
• inclusion of criteria for development in Darwin Harbour Foreshore Areas within Zone PS (Public Open Space) and Zone OR (Organised Recreation);
• acknowledgement in the Area Plan that development of an infrastructure implementation plan should occur in collaboration with relevant Territory Government, Local Government and service authorities; and
• the removal of the Bishop Street, Woolner rezoning component.