Hobart City Council is now backing a St Vincent de Paul Society social housing development for vulnerable older women, after the charity slashed its assessment of how much extra traffic the building would generate. Source: ABC News.
The society wants to build a 38-apartment, five-storey development for women over 50 escaping domestic violence and at risk of homelessness.
However, the Hobart City Council rejected its initial proposal in May due to concerns that the apartment complex would be too tall, not have enough parking, and would cause a dramatic increase in traffic in the area.
The charity’s initial report estimated that the apartments, north of the city, would generate more than 500 traffic movements a day.
St Vincent de Paul and the developer, Amelie Housing, appealed the council’s decision to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and applied to amend their development application.
The charity’s amended plan reduces the building’s overall height by 40 centimetres and changes its colour to better match the surrounding brick and sandstone buildings.
The charity has also proposed to add one car space and updated its traffic impact assessment, clarifying that the estimated daily traffic movements would be 103, not 579 as the original application suggested.
Last week, TASCAT ruled that St Vincent de Paul could amend its application.
After seeing the amendments, the City of Hobart voted in a closed meeting to support the development, primarily because of the change to traffic impacts.
The social housing development has $13 million in federal funding.
St Vincent de Paul still needs to clear another hurdle before any construction can begin. It’s understood the charity is still involved in mediation with some neighbours who initially opposed the development.
FULL STORY
Hobart apartments for vulnerable women one step closer after backing for St Vincent de Paul project by council (By Ellen Coulter, ABC News)
