Outside the West End State School, a group of parents and concerned residents gathered on Friday to express their anger at a proposal to build a 16-storey, 132-unit apartment building on the opposite side of Vulture Street.<\/p>\n
“We have a lot of development in our area, but this one is literally on our doorstep,” Vanessa Bertagnole, the head of the school’s Parents and Citizens group told the media.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Vanessa Bertagnole and her daughter Zana are concerned social infrastructure isn’t keeping pace with development. (ABC News: Will Murray)<\/p>\n
“The developments are outstripping the social infrastructure to support them, and that’s what we’re really concerned about.”<\/p>\n
A recent report released by the Brisbane Economic Development Agency forecast Brisbane’s population will grow 2.1 per cent year-on-year until 2046.<\/p>\n
Planning experts say housing millions of extra people is going to require significant development, and hard decisions about protecting character versus meeting demand will need to be made.<\/p>\n
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The community has concerns new developments will overshadow nearby ‘character’ homes. (ABC News: Will Murray)<\/p>\n
‘Guidelines’ create confusion<\/p>\n
At the protest in West End, many of the signs held by those gathered complain the development is “double” the local height limit and would loom over the surrounding area.<\/p>\n
“It’s planned to be 16 storeys high, this area is zoned for eight storeys,” Ms Bertagnole said.<\/p>\n
A look at the planning scheme would appear to confirm that a limit of eight storeys does apply to that part of West End.<\/p>\n
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West End is zoned for a maximum eight storeys, but Dr Mark Limb says the rules are more like ‘guidelines’. (ABC News: Will Murray)<\/p>\n
However, as Mark Limb, lecturer in urban planning at QUT explained, the state uses what’s called a “performance-based” planning system, which makes things a lot less clear-cut.<\/p>\n
“It means those ‘rules’ are more like guidelines,” Dr Limb said.<\/p>\n
“A developer could potentially make an argument that the building is five or 10 storeys higher than what it says in the guideline, however it’s still achieving the intended outcome of the planning scheme.”<\/p>\n
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Dr Mark Limb says any buildings above the height limit need to undergo an impact assessment. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
In practice, that means there is no hard and fast height limit, but anything above the guidelines must undergo an “impact assessment”, which triggers much closer examination and public scrutiny.<\/p>\n
While Dr Limb said this can be frustrating for residents \u2014 who believe “something dodgy is happening” when buildings outside the rules are approved \u2014 it’s designed to give developers confidence.<\/p>\n
“If you meet with the standards that are specified within the various codes of the planning scheme, [the development] must be approved.<\/p>\n
“If you want to go further \u2026 that’s when the [impact assessment process] kicks in, which opens up the right for the community to lodge submissions.”<\/p>\n
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Developments undergoing an impact assessment require community engagement. (ABC News: Will Murray)<\/p>\n
Up versus out<\/p>\n
Across the river in Toowong, developers Verso Projects recently submitted a development application (DA) to build three towers on a partially empty block.<\/p>\n
The Toowong Central towers are between 49 and 58 storeys and will include about 1,000 units in total.<\/p>\n
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Three towers are planned for the Toowong Central development and will require an impact assessment. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
They are a lot taller than the planning scheme “guidelines” allow and so will require an impact assessment.<\/p>\n
Steve Laffey, CEO of Verso Projects, said they could have opted for a design very similar to a rival DA previously approved for the site.<\/p>\n
However, he argued the community would be worse off.<\/p>\n
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Steve Laffey says the change from six towers to three will allow for more public space. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
“We’ve gone from six towers on the site to three towers,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We end up with about five-and-a-half thousand square metres of open space available to the public, which is about 40 per cent of the site area.<\/p>\n
“If we went back to the code compliant DA that we might have lodged, you would only end up with sort of 1,500 square metres of public space.”<\/p>\n
Very similar complaints have been made about the Toowong and Vulture Street proposals.<\/p>\n
They include that the developments will create more traffic in already busy areas, that there’s no provision for social or affordable housing, and they will create overcrowding at local schools.<\/p>\n
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An artist’s impression of the proposed development at Vulture Street in West End. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Mr Laffey said the company acknowledged these concerns, but said developers can’t be expected to fund the solutions entirely.<\/p>\n
“At some point there’s a breaking point in terms of what’s financial and what’s not.<\/p>\n
“If we’re asked to do too much, then it’s not financial, then it’s never going to happen, and the community is not going to get an outcome it so desperately needs.”<\/p>\n
Hard decisions ahead<\/p>\n
For city planners like Dr Limb, there’s a lot to be said for higher density in inner-city areas.<\/p>\n
“We have some of the most sprawling cities on the planet in Australia, which is truly inefficient and pushes people further and further away from essential services.<\/p>\n