Minutes of 979 Meeting of the Town
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Minutes of 979th Meeting of the Town Planning Board held on 8.4.2011 Present Permanent Secretary for Development Chairman (Planning and Lands) Mr. Thomas Chow Mr. Stanley Y.F. Wong Vice-chairman Mr. K.Y. Leung Mr. Walter K.L. Chan Mr. B.W. Chan Mr. Y.K. Cheng Mr. Felix W. Fong Ms. Anna S.Y. Kwong Dr. James C.W. Lau Professor Edwin H.W. Chan Mr. Maurice W.M. Lee Professor Eddie C.M. Hui Dr. C.P. Lau Mr. Roger K.H. Luk Ms. Anita W.T. Ma 2 - Professor S.C. Wong Ms. Pansy L.P. Yau Dr. W.K. Yau Mr. Stephen M.W. Yip Principal Assistant Secretary (Transport) Transport and Housing Bureau Mr. Fletch Chan Assistant Director (Environmental Assessment) Environmental Protection Department Mr. C.W. Tse Director of Lands Miss Annie Tam Director of Planning Mr. Jimmy Leung Deputy Director of Planning/District Secretary Miss Ophelia Y.S. Wong Absent with Apologies Ms. Maggie M.K. Chan Mr. Raymond Y.M. Chan Professor Paul K.S. Lam Mr. Rock C.N. Chen Mr. Timothy K.W. Ma Dr. Winnie S.M. Tang Professor P.P. Ho Ms. Julia M.K. Lau Professor Joseph H.W. Lee Mr. Clarence W.C. Leung Mr. Laurence L.J. Li Dr. W.K. Lo 3 - Assistant Director (2), Home Affairs Department Mr. Andrew Tsang In Attendance Assistant Director of Planning/Board Mr. C.T. Ling Chief Town Planner/Town Planning Board Ms. Christine K.C. Tse (a.m.) Ms. H.Y. Chu (p.m.) Senior Town Planner/Town Planning Board Ms. Amy M.Y. Wu (a.m.) Ms. Vivian M.F. Lai (p.m.) 4 - Agenda Item 1 [Open Meeting] Confirmation of Minutes of the 978th Meeting held on 25.3.2011 [The meeting was conducted in Cantonese.] 1. The minutes of the 978th Meeting held on 25.3.2011 were confirmed without amendments. Agenda Item 2 [Open Meeting] Matters Arising [The meeting was conducted in Cantonese.] Abandonment of Town Planning Appeal Town Planning Appeal No. 4 of 2008 Proposed Office Development (Amendments to an Approved Master Layout Plan) in “Comprehensive Development Area” zone, Taikoo Place, 979 King’s Road, Quarry Bay (Application No. A/H21/130) 2. The Secretary reported that the subject appeal was received by the Appeal Board Panel (Town Planning) on 8.9.2008 against the Town Planning Board’s decision on 27.6.2008 to reject on review an application for proposed office development (amendment to an approved master layout plan) in “Comprehensive Development Area” zone on the draft Quarry Bay Outline Zoning Plan. On 25.3.2011, the appeal was abandoned by the Appellant of his own accord. On 30.3.2011, Appeal Board Panel (Town Planning) confirmed that the appeal was abandoned in accordance with Regulation 7(1) of the Town Planning (Appeals) Regulations. 5 - Agenda Item 3 [Open Meeting (Presentation and Question Session only)] Consideration of Representations and Comments to the Draft Wong Nai Chung Outline Zoning Plan No. S/H7/15 (TPB Paper No. 8781) [The hearing was conducted in Cantonese and English.] 3. The following Members had declared interest on the item: Mr. Maurice W.M. Lee - Owned a flat at Link Road and a flat at Wun Sha Street Professor Joseph H.W. Lee - Owned a flat at Hawthorn Road Mr. Y.K. Cheng - Owned a property at Ventris Road Miss Ophelia Y.S. Wong - Owned a property at Broadwood Road (the Secretary) Professor S.C. Wong and - Had business dealings with Ove Arup & Mr. Stephen Yip Partners Hong Kong Ltd (OAP) which was a consultant of the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital (HKSH). HKSH was one of the representers (R708). Ms. Anna S.Y. Kwong - Had business dealings with family members of the owner of HKSH. HKSH was one of the representers (R708) 4. Members noted that the above Members had not yet arrived at the meeting. Members agreed that as the role of the Secretary was to provide information and advice on procedural matters and would not take part in the decision-making, she could be allowed to 6 - stay at the meeting 5. The Chairman drew Members’ attention to a letter submitted by S.K. Lam, Alfred Chan & Co. (Solicitors & Notaries) on behalf of Elite Eternal Limited (R763) to the Chairman and Members on 7.4.2011 which was tabled at the meeting. R763 stated in the letter that the proposed amendments to the draft OZP were a result of a settlement agreement between the HKSH and the Board in relation of a Judicial Review (JR) lodged by HKSH and was agreed prior to a proper public consultation and full consideration of the public views by the Board. R763 believed that as a result of the settlement agreement, the Board had already reached a decision on the matter and the public consultation currently undertaken was not a proper one. In the light of the above, R763 was concerned whether the Board had properly discharged its statutory duties and whether the existing public consultation process was a genuine consultation on the matter. R763 requested that the Board should seek to clarify the legality of its current process before any deliberation or decision was made on the draft OZP. The Chairman said that the Board had sought Department of Justice’s (DoJ) advice on the matter and invited the Secretary to explain the terms of settlement and DoJ’s advice. 6. The Secretary referred to the terms of settlement for the JR as detailed in paragraph 2.4 of the Paper as follows: (a) subject to the Board’s approval of the terms of settlement on 3.9.2010, the PlanD would prepare a Metro Planning Committee (MPC) paper for MPC meeting on 10.9.2010 proposing an amendment to the draft Wong Nai Chung OZP No. S/H7/14 (the new Draft OZP) under section 7 of the Town Planning Ordinance (the Ordinance), in a format to be determined by the PlanD, such that upon the approval of such amendments by the Board and subsequently by the Chief Executive in Council (CE in C) (and subject to necessary lease modification and the Building Authority approvals), HKSH would be permitted under the new Draft OZP to construct new Phases 3A (115mPD) and Phase 4 (89mPD) buildings as shown in Drawing H-4 of the Paper; (b) inclusion of a piece of Government land of approximately 38m2 to the 7 - southwest of the HKSH’s lot (currently zoned “Green Belt” (“GB”)) into the HKSH’s lot upon which the proposed new hospital building might encroach. This could be regarded as a minor adjustment of zoning boundary permitted under the covering Notes of the OZP; and (c) subject to confirmation of approval by the Board of these terms of settlement on 3.9.2010 and the MPC's approval of the gazettal of the new draft OZP at its meeting on 10.9.2010, the parties should execute a Consent Summons, in terms to be agreed, for discontinuance of the JR proceedings with no order as to costs, and should file the same with the Court on or before 17.9.2010. 7. The Secretary then went on to explain DoJ’s advice on the matter. DoJ was of the view that the solicitors’ letter was not a representation or comment on a representation for the purposes of the statutory planning procedure. The Board might consider the letter and the solicitor’s request separately but not as part of the procedure concerning the hearing of representations and comments on the draft OZP. The Board was to exercise its powers and duties to consider the representations and comments on the draft OZP duly and there were no suggestions that the planning process had been compromised in any way or that Members were biased in any way in considering the representations and comments on the draft OZP. The minds of the members of the Board on the draft OZP must not be unduly fixed. 8. For clarity, the Chairman supplemented that under the settlement agreement, once the MPC’s approval of the gazettal of the new draft OZP was confirmed, the two parties would agree to the discontinuance of the JR proceedings and the Board had not undertaken to ensure that the draft OZP would finally be approved by the CE in C. The Vice-Chairman added that even the MPC had agreed to the gazettal of the draft OZP, the amendments were still subject to the Board’s consideration of the representations and comments and the Board’s decision on the draft OZP. The Chairman then invited Members to consider whether the hearing of the representations and comments should continue in view of the solicitors’ letter and DoJ’s advice. 9. A Member considered that the terms of the settlement agreement between the 8 - HKSH and the Board were such that the Board’s consideration of the representations and comments and its decision on the draft OZP would not be pre-empted. There was no reason that the hearing of the representations and comments should not proceed as scheduled. On this point, the Chairman said that the HKSH was fully aware of the fact that the MPC’s agreement to gazette the draft OZP would in no way pre-empt the decision of the Board and CE in C on the draft OZP. 10. As requested by a Member, the Secretary explained the background of the JR in detail: (a) the HKSH comprised 4 main buildings, i.e. Phase 2 building (12 storeys above 1 basement floor), Phase 1 cum Phase 3 building (148mPD), Central Block (6 storeys) and Li Shu Fan Block (8 storeys).