Woden Valley Community Council

Committee Meeting    2 March 2005

Orpheus Room     Hellenic Club

Record

Deputy Chair Mike Reddy opened the meeting and advised that apologies had
been received from President David Menzel and Committee Member Dolores
Holmes.

Mr Reddy said that the first hour of the meeting would cover the proposed
new bus interchange for the Woden Town Centre.  Rod Baxter of the ACT
Planning and Land Authority was present to provide a presentation on the
history and proposals and would take questions after the presentation.
Public transport engineering firm Connell Wagner had a contract with the ACT
Government to design the new interchange and Anthony Dick, consulting
engineer with Connell Wagner, was also present to answer questions.

Rod Baxter advised the meeting that ACT Planning were seeking community
consultation and feedback on proposals for the interchange.  Mr Baxter said
that the Woden bus interchange occupied a relatively large area of the Woden
Town Centre and that a combination of design faults and changes of use of
the surrounding area over 20 years had resulted in a less than optimum
facility.  Mr Baxter noted that the future expansion of Woden Town Centre
would preclude many workers driving to work in Woden and that improved bus
transport would be required to take commuters to and from work.  A light
rail proposal was not economical at this stage and was unlikely to be
economical for at least the next 20 years.

A number of options and routes had been considered for buses arriving and
departing from the town centre.  He said that 1400 buses a day pass through
the Woden interchange with 80 in a northerly direction and 40 in a southerly
direction during peak hours.  The interchange had become isolated from the
shopping precinct with the move of a number of shops away from the
interchange surrounds, particularly the move of supermarkets away from the
area.  There was now a requirement to include a viable shopping component
adjacent to a rebuilt interchange.  Mr Baxter presented a number of options
for routing buses through the new interchange based on the concept that
trunk services would proceed straight down Callum Street with local services
going into the interchange.  Extensive redesign of the area would take
place, starting with the Police station being demolished mid 2005.  The taxi
rank area would become a forecourt for the town square.  It was noted that
the current interchange had a micro climate in winter and the new design
would need to counteract the wind tunnel effect of the present structures.
The proposed new retail edge of the interchange would incorporate canopies
to provide protection from the weather.

Mr Baxter said that the new interchange was a large scale project and that
an interim interchange would be required for a period of approximately two
and a half years.  The redevelopment would take place in three stages with
the first stage demolishing current structures, the second stage would see
the construction of an interim interchange and the third stage the building
of the permanent structure.  The interchange development would take place in
conjunction with private sector development.  The proposed design would also
include enhanced public spaces.  Discussions would be held with the building
owners and commercial groups with a preliminary draft plan to be produced
for public comment.

Westfield has announced that it will take over management of Woden Plaza
from Lend Lease and it was not possible to predict the impact that this
might have on interchange redevelopment proposals.

Mr Baxter said that the redevelopment had been included in the formal ACT
government planning and budget proposals.  Funding had been provided for the
design element of the redevelopment in the 2004-05 financial year with the
consultation process to take one year.  The construction phase would be
included in the budget process in 2006-07 with construction proposed to
start in July 2007.

Mr Baxter concluded his presentation saying that preliminary plans would be
available for public consideration in mid 2005.

Warwick Pearson reported to the meeting on his attendance at a Canberra
International Airport meeting on noise problems to be caused by an expansion
of activity at Canberra airport, including a proposal for night operations.
Mr Pearson advised that turbo prop aircraft caused the most noise
disturbance over urban areas as jet aircraft flight paths were programmed to
avoid overflying suburban housing.  Mr Pearson said that there were no
representatives from the Jerrabomberra residents association nor from the
developers of the proposed Tralee estate.  He said that there was little
support at the meeting for developments built under established flight
paths.  The meeting agreed to maintain a watching brief on airport noise and
the impact it might cause for the Woden Valley if affected resident
associations lobbied for noise sharing over other suburbs.

The meeting agreed to invite Russell Watkinson the new CEO of Canberra Urban
Parks and Places to a meeting of the WVCC.  It was noted that the budget for
maintenance of parks and public spaces was decreasing at a time when many
trees were reaching the end of their natural life span and extensive
replacement were now required.

Treasurer John Kain said that the WVCC bank account balance was under $2,000
and the ACT Planning would pay for the costs associated with the
establishment of the internet site.  Site development was almost complete
with most WVCC documents to be placed on the site.

The meeting noted that a submission had been sent to the ACT government on
Woden Valley funding requirements for inclusion in the ACT budgetary
process.

The meeting noted concerns about a proposal for development near the corner
of Melrose Drive and Parramatta St in Phillip on the former motor registry
site.  The owners of the site proposed 14 parallel car park spaces on the
curve in addition to two driveways on Melrose Drive.  The notification
process of the development had been unsatisfactory with very few
neighbouring property owners being advised of the proposals.  It was agreed
that the proposals would create significant traffic hazards because of the
parallel parking on a major road and access and egress onto the same road.
The meeting noted  concerns about the lack of adequate community
consultation and it was agreed that the WVCC would write to ACT Planning
objecting to the proposal.

Mike Reddy advised that he would be making further progress on the
implementation of an alcohol free zone for the park adjacent to the Woden
Valley Senior Citizens club in discussions with Woden Police.
He further advised that the convenor of the Woden Art Show was unable to
take on the task this year due to ill health.  He was having discussions
with another person interested in becoming the 2005 convenor.

Adrian Roberts requested that the Police be invited to address a WVCC
meeting on policing issues in the Woden Valley.

Mr Roberts also noted that graffiti was increasing in the Curtin/Lyons area
as well as a number of other public spaces in the Valley and that the ACT
government anti graffiti campaign was not proving to be effective.  Graffiti
removal was the responsibility of individual government organisations and
there was no coordinated general response which exacerbated removal
problems.  As graffiti removal was not the responsibility of a central body
it was necessary to write to individual departments to request removal of
graffiti on their premises.

John Kain said that North Walk in the town centre was not being maintained
as the contractors were not aware of their maintenance responsibilities.
This was a common problem with many contractors being unaware of their
landscape maintenance responsibilities.

MLA Deb Foskey said that she should be copied in on requests to individual
departments as MLAs could often get responses more promptly than the general
public or community organisations.

The meeting agreed that a letter be sent to Urban Services Minister John
Hargreaves noting that action was taken on specific requests but that
government mechanisms created layers of bureaucracy with many departments
having responsibilities for diverse areas.