Your Centenary Suburbs YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE Summary of the draft Centenary Suburbs Neighbourhood Plan MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE DRAFT PLAN “ Jennifer Street “Monier Road “ Old Turf Farm “Mount “ Mount Ommaney “ Horizon Drive Precinct” Precinct” Precinct” Ommaney Hotel Mixed Use Centre Bushland Precinct” Precinct” Precinct” “ Seventeen Mile “ Sinnamon “ Centenary Rocks Industrial Farm Heritage Sport & Recreation Precinct” Precinct” Precinct” Precincts shown on this map are for illustrative purposes only. CHANGES PROPOSED BY THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN: alternative housing and open space new retail, entertainment, living and office precinct extra protection over bushland preserved employment precincts Most areas not indicated on the map are residential stronger heritage and character protections living areas, where no protected sport and recreation areas. changes are proposed. RON AND ROSE NICOLL, WHY DO YOU LOVE LIVING IN Centenary? “LIFE HERE OFFERS US THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: A leafy neighbourhood With all the conVenience of CITY LIFE. OUR family HOME IS great FOR entertaining AND Very comfortable – JUST LIKE Centenary.” MT OMMANEY CONTENTS Congratulations Centenary Suburbs 2 Main elements of the Enhancement Program 8 What is Neighbourhood Planning? 3 Main elements of the Statutory Plan 11 About Centenary Suburbs 5 How to respond to the draft Plan 17 About the Neighbourhood Plan 6 Where to from here? 18 CONGRATULATIONS CENTENARY SUBURBS YOU’RE ONE OF A KIND Your leafy streets, big backyards, pockets of native bushland, convenient shopping and local jobs make you one of Brisbane’s most desirable neighbourhoods to live in. Families love you. People come from everywhere to enjoy your festivals, riverside walks and golf courses and to play in your spectacular riverside park. No other neighbourhood in Brisbane is quite like you. We’ve met with lots of people from Centenary Suburbs over the last two years – people who live in the neighbourhood, people who come to work in the local industrial areas and members of your local community groups. We’ve even talked with those who just love to visit your community. It’s been a great experience for Council’s Neighbourhood Planning team to listen to your thoughts. We’ve combined your ideas with some of our own to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan for the area. Thanks for helping us plan a brighter future for your neighbourhood. Such teamwork makes your city great and your city council a great example to the world. Why has Brisbane City Council sent this to you? WE WANT YOU TO HAVE A FINAL SAY ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD’S FUTURE We’ve produced a plan that will help determine what your neighbourhood looks like over the next 10 to 20 years. Now is your final opportunity to comment on this plan and if you want to, suggest changes. This newsletter summarises the plan to help you decide if you want to read the full document, and respond, before we finalise it. After that we can start to build a better future for Centenary Suburbs, a future that we have planned together. 2 WHAT IS NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING? Today, Brisbane is at a critical point. It’s under pressure from a rapidly growing population and changing lifestyles. Demand for new housing – and different types of housing – is increasing. Yet there are dwindling stocks of new land for development. We need to work out how to meet the needs of Brisbane people, yet preserve the unique character of our city and the quality of life we value so much. That’s where Neighbourhood Planning comes in. Neighbourhood Planning brings together representatives from Council and local communities and involves them in the planning process. It’s a way of making sure that everyone who lives, works, or owns property in Brisbane can have a say in the city’s future. Through Neighbourhood Planning, between 2004 and 2005, more than 55 000 people helped to create Brisbane’s CityShape 2026 (CityShape 2026), a document which guides how and where Brisbane will grow. Since then people across Brisbane have worked closely with Council to produce detailed, practical plans for their particular neighbourhoods. These Neighbourhood Plans reflect the outcomes of CityShape 2026. For more information on CityShape 2026 and Neighbourhood Planning, visit www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/neighbourhoodplanning, or call Council on (07) 3403 8698 to request a fact sheet pack. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANS CONSIDER IN DETAIL HOW TO ACCOMMODATE POPULATION GROWTH YET PRESERVE GREEN SPACE, PROVIDE BETTER PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND BIKEWAYS, CREATE MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND MORE. VIEW FROM centenary BRIDGE 3 ROCKS RIVERSIDE parK 4 ABOUT CENTENARY SUBURBS Centenary Suburbs is a great place to live. It’s south-west of the CBD and bordered by the beautiful Brisbane River. Most households in the area are families, living in houses with big backyards. The area has schools, shops, child care centres, sporting facilities, parks, bus services, a library, bikeways, a lake, the largest riverside park in the city and a skate park for young people. It’s a culturally diverse neighbourhood, with many people born in China, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Residents are active in their community through groups such as sporting clubs, bushcare and historical societies. Most locals use the term ‘Centenary Suburbs’ for the seven suburbs west of the Centenary Highway – Jindalee, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park, Westlake, Riverhills and Sumner. We’ve also included the suburbs of Sinnamon Park and Seventeen Mile Rocks in the Neighbourhood Plan, so the area broadly covers all suburbs in Council’s Jamboree Ward. The Centenary Suburbs community, or Council’s own studies, said the Neighbourhood Plan should: • reduce traffic congestion and make streets safer, particularly around, and along Spine Street, Dandenong Road and Sumners Road • make it safer and easier to access the industrial precinct located off Sumners Road • improve public transport and make sure services are better connected • make it safer, easier and more enjoyable to cycle and walk in the neighbourhood • increase housing options in the area • improve facilities in local parks • create more community meeting places • create more sport and recreation facilities • protect and enhance waterways, bushland and green spaces • protect employment areas, like industrial precincts, but encourage ‘cleaner’ industry • protect the area’s heritage • create a vibrant entertainment, shopping, working and urban living precinct in the heart of the community. 5 AMAZON PLACE parK ABOUT THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN There are two parts in a Neighbourhood Plan Some of the issues facing Centenary Suburbs can be solved with practical, straightforward solutions, like building more bikeways. We compiled a list of the best solutions and called them the Neighbourhood Enhancement Program (Enhancement Program). Council is committed to progressively delivering this program and we’ve already started work. Other issues will require us to change the regulations that guide how the area can be developed. This involves creating a new, legally-binding document, called the Statutory Neighbourhood Plan (Statutory Plan). WHILE WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS WE HAVE PROPOSED, IT IS CRITICAL YOU MAKE A WRITTEN, FORMAL SUBMISSION IF YOU WANT TO INDICATE YOUR SUPPORT FOR, OR OPPOSITION TO, THE STATUTORY PLAN. 6 centenary BRIDGE 7 THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN HAS TWO SECTIONS THE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM – Practical Solutions THE STATUTORY PLAN – A Legal Document MOUNT OMMANEY CENTRE underpass MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM We’ve already begun making Centenary Suburbs a better place to live. Neighbourhood enhancements are underway in Centenary Suburbs. We’ve brightened the concrete walls of the Mount Ommaney Centre underpass with scenes of local creeks and wildlife, put directional signage along pathways to the Centre, improved footpaths along Lofts Road, built a barbeque at Dandenong Park and are working with the TransLink Transit Authority to get better park ‘n’ ride facilities at Oxley. You can view the full list of enhancements Council has planned for Centenary Suburbs over the next ten years in the draft Centenary Suburbs Neighbourhood Plan. The plan also explains why certain suggestions put forward by the community aren’t possible or may not be achievable in the short-term. Some ideas are simply beyond the influence of Council’s local government powers; others are part of a broader Council strategy or will require us to lobby for funding. 8 Through the Enhancement Program, Council will: • build a new community centre, with meeting spaces and facilities • improve safety for local traffic along Sumners Road • build more bikeways connecting Rocks Riverside Park with Jindalee along the river • provide a bike shelter at Mount Ommaney Shopping Centre • work with the TransLink Transit Authority to improve the frequency of bus services • seal more footpaths in the area, especially near primary schools • put in new pedestrian crossings at busy intersections • construct a new district level sports facility nearby (in partnership with the Queensland Government) • put more trees, shade structures, and other equipment, such as tables, swings and play facilities, into local parks • rehabilitate local creeks by working alongside the local community • construct a canoe facility in Riverhills • and much more! AMAZON PLACE parK 9 ROCKS RIVERSIDE parK 10 RIVERSIDE CYCLE TRACK MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE STATUTORY PLAN Crafting a plan for the future Like the rest of Brisbane, all development and construction in Centenary Suburbs is directed by the Brisbane City Plan 2000 (City Plan). This is a legal document that shows where new development can go and what can be built. Normally, City Plan’s rules apply right across the city. The Statutory Plan for Centenary Suburbs is the way City Plan can be refined to suit your neighbourhood. If there are differences between the Centenary Suburbs Neighbourhood Plan and City Plan, the Neighbourhood Plan is followed – one reason why your Neighbourhood Plan is so important! When the Statutory Plan is finalised, the changes it recommends may not happen straightaway.