Industrial Land Study the City of Charles Sturt
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Quality Endorsed Company ISO 9002 Lic 6350 Standards Australia INDUSTRIAL LAND STUDY VOLUME 1 UNDER INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE CITY OF CHARLES STURT APRIL 2008 OUR REFERENCE: PA1566 R0089 Colliers International Consulting Services (SA) ABN 20 031 866 033 Level 10 Statewide House 99 Gawler Place Adelaide SA 5000 CHARLES STURT INDUSTRIAL LAND STUDY – APRIL 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The City of Charles Sturt has around 560Ha of Industry zoned land in 22 separate precincts, scatted across much of its domain. It is over a decade since there was a comprehensive review of this zoning. This study is a precursor to such a review. It considers Charles Sturt’s industrial land stock through the prism of:- • its broader economic and development policy settings; • the Rezoning Assessment Framework established by the Metropolitan Adelaide Industrial Land Strategy; and • the development planning and other issues arising from this analysis and assessment. Industry’s economic contribution to the city is clearly important and must be protected. It provides both jobs for the local community and export income for the region, and it has the capacity to remain a vital part of the City’s economic make-up for the next generation and beyond. At the same time however, there are other strategic development planning drivers at work, including population policy and the looming shortage of residential land in metropolitan Adelaide over the next decade, which will result in ongoing pressure for new, higher density models of infill development. Some of this pressure will be on existing industrial land. Addressing both sides of this strategic equation will require that decisions about the ongoing role of industry in Charles Sturt’s economic and social fabric be made “on balance”. That balance will need to reflect a blend of policy objectives, some of which will work in favour of continuing industrial use and some of which will not. Where the decision favours industry, then it needs to do so on the basis that it will be able to operate at optimum levels. Where it does not, then it need be no cause for strategic concern, provided its replacement is economically appropriate. The Metropolitan Adelaide Industrial Land Strategy (MAILS) addresses just this issue and provides a mechanism to guide such decisions. To this end, it defines “Prime Industrial Areas” (PIA’s) against a dozen criteria, and reinforces this by also requiring assessment of rezoning potential. This study refines this approach for application at a regional level. The result is 11 criteria each for determining both whether a particular precinct is a PIA and whether it has rezoning potential. Each of these criteria has then been applied to the 22 separate precincts identified with the Study Area for the purpose. CHARLES STURT INDUSTRIAL LAND STUDY – APRIL 2008 The analysis suggests that there are:- • nine or so PIA’s, being Hindmarsh, Royal Park, Hendon, Port Road/South Road Corner, Woodville North, Athol Park, West Croydon/Kilkenny, Beverley and Arndale, all of which require not only long term protection, but also long term enhancement of their capacity and capability; • a handful of precincts with very high rezoning potential, including West Lakes, Seaton and Devon Park; • several precincts where the long term underlying land use warrants review, including Kidman Park South, Bowden Brompton and portion of Kilkenny; and • a number of opportunities to fine tune zone boundaries, generally to improve the long term management of residential interfaces. From a strategic viewpoint, the key planks to any future industrial land development planning strategy might therefore reflect the broad objectives of:- • preserving the city’s industrial capacity and employment levels in appropriate degree, by – • continuing to providing suitably zoned land with suitable infrastructure connections for an appropriate range of industrial uses; and • enabling industry to operate effectively and efficiently within these zones; and • properly aligning the policy provisions of all its commercial and industrial zones; • facilitating the entry of higher value industrial activities where appropriate; • achieving improved environmental outcomes on a range of fronts within its industrial precincts; and • ensuring that, on strategic balance (ie on a triple bottom line basis), land in Charles Sturt is able to be put to its highest and best use, probably including rationalization of some Industry zones – which will mean anticipating and planning for the advent of alternative uses, including both bulky goods and high density housing, in selected and appropriate locations. The study gives rise to a number of particular planning policy issues, including:- • the need to provide for the many faces of industry but, at the same time, to lean towards the most economically appropriate industries; • the substantially low impact nature of much of the City’s Industry zoning and the strategic implications and opportunities this gives rise to; • the inappropriateness of Bulky Goods retailing in Industry zones, and the question of how and where to provide for this still emergent use; • the failure of Home Industry Policy Areas to produce worthwhile development or economic outcomes – and, in some cases, their tendency to inhibit broader industrial land use outcomes; CHARLES STURT INDUSTRIAL LAND STUDY – APRIL 2008 • the incongruity of the Industry zone umbrella for dealing with most heritage precincts; • the degree of mis-alignment between current zoning and the situation on the ground – especially along arterial roads, where non-industrial uses tend to predominate; • the commonality of land uses between zones, especially between Industry and Mixed Use zones, and the need for a more integrated policy approach; • the opportunity for the wider application of a more nuanced Mixed Use zone; • the extent to which community uses are causing industrial capacity to be bled off and the best policy approach to dealing with such uses in the future; and • the need to address residential interfaces in some areas, either to ameliorate the harshness of existing situations or to avoid repeat performances in the future. These issues and opportunities are illustrated schematically in the summary maps included at the end of Section 6.3. Beyond policy, there are infrastructure and programme needs embedded in these findings, including:- • the need to take decisive action to upgrade transport infrastructure in selected precincts – often to sustain their long term PIA designation; • the need to develop “strategies for change” to address economic development initiatives, including the attraction of new industry; • the need to actively intervene in priority precincts so as to catalyse and facilitate industrial renewal on a scale, in a manner and at a rate that might not otherwise be achieved – which will entail masterplanning and case management in some precincts; and • the need to improve the amenity of many precincts, especially where higher value activities are desired. For Council, the implications of the report’s findings include that:- • from an industrial viewpoint, there is no need for any fundamental shift in Charles Sturt’s underlying economic settings, but there is a need (and an opportunity) to modernize its economy in order to sustain current levels of economic activity; • via this path, there is an opportunity to achieve either increased economic output from the same industrial footprint or the same output from a smaller footprint – with the latter suggesting a consequent opportunity for non-industrial renewal in some sectors; • more change should be anticipated in desired land use and development patterns over the next decade for both industrial and non-industrial uses, and Council needs to respond accordingly now; • there will be a need for capital expenditure in a number of industrial precincts, especially if there is to be enhanced transport infrastructure; and • there will be a need for resources to be applied to pro-actively work on the renewal of priority precincts. CHARLES STURT INDUSTRIAL LAND STUDY – APRIL 2008 It is recommended that this report be endorsed by Council and that the team engaged to prepare the Section 30 Development Plan Review be instructed to:- • firstly, regard it as the foundation of its work on this aspect of the Development Plan; and • secondly, closely consider each and every need and opportunity identified herein because, notwithstanding the need for clear strategic direction, in development planning the devil is ultimately in the detail. Finally, it is recommended that Council begin a conversation about the non-policy initiatives required to facilitate industrial renewal and modernization, and how it should go about planning both their scoping and their implementation. CHARLES STURT INDUSTRIAL LAND STUDY – APRIL 2008 Contents VOLUME 1 1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................1 1.1 PREAMBLE.............................................................................................................1 1.2 THE STUDY AREA...................................................................................................3 2 BACKGROUND ....................................................................................12 2.1 STRATEGIC CONTEXT...........................................................................................12 2.2 REFERENCE POINTS.............................................................................................15 2.3 CURRENT ZONING................................................................................................20