Council walks a tightrope on Blackstone Heights proposal

Sharon Webb

BLACKSTONE HEIGHTS residents have communicated substantial concerns about Meander Valley Council’s plan to rezone the location of a proposed Tasland $149m residential homes development on Neptune Drive.

The council has responded by reducing the number of houses allowable from 650 to 600, and stipulating other requirements for the Specific Purpose Zone it wants to create to allow the development to go ahead.

But Tasland developer Ross Harrison pressured council not to adopt the new requirements.

He told the January council meeting they would mean he needed to ‘withdraw the whole application and resubmit it all over again’.

Nevertheless the council endorsed a report on 30 development representations from residents and supported modifying the zone requirements.

The report and zone requirements will go to the Tasmanian Planning Commission, which will hold hearings before deciding on the rezoning.

In September councillors described Tasland’s development application as ‘visionary’ and ‘creative’.

But resident representations indicate at least 40 people in Blackstone Heights don’t agree, mainly because of the implications of changing from a Low Density Zone to the high density Specific Purpose Zone.

Tasland developer Ross Harrison maintains the development ‘seeks to allow clusters of higher density development within larger areas of open space and native vegetation.’

Typical lot sizes are 660sq metres in size.

A Tasland letter to the council pointed out the resident reactions ‘represent just more than six per cent of Blackstone Heights households’.

Council’s modifications to the Specific Purpose Zone include:

• decreasing dwelling numbers from 650 to 600

• prohibiting visitor eco cabin users from accessing Canopus Drive

• mandating maximum building heights of 5.5m within 40 metres of the Panorama Road frontage

• mandating a 15m setback to Panorama Road, landscaped with trees and shrubs

• ensuring contributed land is added to Dalrymple Creek Reserve enabling a public walking trail extension to a useable area edging the South Esk River

• including open space over the prominent hill top and ridgeline in the north of the site.

For more on this story, go to ‘Council modifies zoning plan rules to alleviate Blackstone residents’ concerns’.