Belconnen Town Centre

Water Police Building Open Day 26 Feb 2017 – 1 to 5 PM

water police open day 26 feb

This is your last chance to see this building before demolition! The ACT Government through the Land Development Agency have agreed to let the Belconnen Community Council and the Belco50 committee host an open day prior to demolition.

There will be a sausage sizzle provided by the Lake Ginninderra Sea Scouts and face painting and a jumping castle to keep the kids amused. The Sea Scouts are also holding a regatta beforehand, and there is a jetty – so why not arrive by canoe!
Guided access to the building will be provided, including the upper level. Unfortunately, there is no disabled access to the upper level.

The AFP Museum has provided some historical documents related to the building that will also be on display.

This is it folks, in the days after this event the building will be prepared for demolition, ahead of the sale of the site.

February 15, 2017 in Community, Meetings, News and Events, Notices, Relax

BCC AGM 15 November 2016

Belconnen Community Council Inc.
Annual General Meeting followed by General Meeting
15 November 2016, 7:30 – 9:00 pm
Venue: Community Room Belconnen Library
AGENDA
1. 7:30 pm Welcome & and call for apologies
2. 7:35 pm AGM Business
(a) Chair’s Annual Report – BCC Chair, Damien Haas
(b) Acceptance of previous AGM Minutes
(c) Acceptance of audited accounts.
(d) Public Officer declares all committee positions vacant.
Committee appointments for 2016-17 announced:
Chair: Elizabeth Hirst
Deputy Chair: Glen Hyde
Secretary: Chander Khera
Committee members:
Damien Haas,
Brian Rhynehart
Charles Thomas
Treasurer position nominations called for from the floor.
Other Committee positions called for from the floor.
(e) Appointment of Richard Trevanion as auditor for 2016-17
8:00 pm AGM declared closed.
General Meeting 15 November 2016,
AGENDA
1. 8:02 pm Chair’s report including Belco50
BCC Chair, Damien Haas
2. 8:15 pm David Collett, Executive Director, Public Housing Renewal Taskforce
3. 8:30 pm Emu Bank and Kippax Fair Discussion
4. 8:45 pm Other Business
4. 9:00 pm Meeting Close
November 14, 2016 in Community, Meetings, Notices

BCC Monthly Public Meeting June 21st 7PM

The monthly public meeting of the Belconnen Community Council will take place at 7PM on June 21 2016 at the Community Room above the Belconnen Library.

This month we have the opportunity to engage in community consultation with three different organisations proposing development in the Belconnen Town Centre.

We will also discuss the Belco50 celebrations commencing on June 23.

Stewart Architecture on behalf of the Rock Development Group will present new plans to fill the giant hole in the ground at the Belconnen Markets, and seek feedback from the community. The proposed buildings will be 6 storeys high, between the Belconnen Markets and Belconnen Way, and have ground level retail space.

The Land Development Agency would like to discuss options for the old Water Police site on Lake Ginninderra. The site is small with room for a retail only building no higher than two storeys. Public access to the jetty and boat ramp must remain. No decisions or plan have been made yet, and public views are now being sought on options and ideas for this site.

Elton Consulting will present plans for the block behind the Belconnen Labor Club (Section 200). Canberra developer GEOCON purchased this block in 2015, and would like to present preliminary plans to the public ahead of lodging a DA. This site is proposed for a 27 storey mixed use building facing the lake.

A brief agenda is:

  • Meeting Opens 7PM
  • Chairs report
  • Belco50
  • Stewart Architects – Belconnen Markets proposal
  • Elton Consulting – Geocon Section 200
  • LDA – Water Police site options
  • Other business
  • Meeting closes 9PM

All residents of Belconnen are invited to attend.

June 12, 2016 in Community, General, Government, Meetings, Planning Comments (1)

Belconnen and the ACT Budget

The ACT Budget was handed down this week and it appears to be a safe and steady budget, with a focus on services. Investment will be focused on schools, hospitals, roads and parks. Oddly for an election year, little pork barreling seems to have occurred anywhere in Canberra.
The biggest single investment in Belconnen is for the University of Canberra Public Hospital currently being constructed on the corner of Aikman and Ginninderra Drive. The investment in that facility from this budget is $212 million dollars, and will benefit all of Canberra, not just Belconnen residents. As well as much needed health facilities it will provide jobs and become part of the integration of UC with the town centre.
Some budget announcements that directly benefited Belconnen were the announcement of the duplication of Aikman Drive and upgrades to local shopping centres at Charnwood and Spence.Belconnen schools will receive upgrades, such as an early learning space to be built at Maribyrnong Primary in Kaleen and the CIT in Bruce will receive 1.7M dollars  towards upgrades.

Local playgrounds in Florey and Evatt will be also be provided with finds for upgrades and improvements.

The 9.8M dollar Aikman Drive duplication announcement is an important step in smoothing traffic through the town centre, especially with a growing population accessing town centre services, such as the UC Public Hospital that is being built right now. As well as the road duplication, a cycle path and footpath will be constructed.

Other heavily used arterial roads in the area require attention, such as Kuringa Drive and William Slim Drive, and the BCC will continue to lobby for those upgrades.

The ACT Treasury has prepared a Belconnen specific budget breakdown (available from this link). As your community council we would like to ask you:

  • What do you think of this budget?
  • Where can the government invest our money and improve Belconnen?
  • What specific improvements do you think are needed?
Please email us at: [email protected]
June 12, 2016 in Community, General, Government, Information Comments (3)

Belconnen retains its 4000 strong workforce at Immigration

belco immigration

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection today announced that the 4000 Immigration employees working in the Town Centre will remain in Belconnen. Office accommodation arrangements have now been finalised, and although its Civic workforce will be relocating to the Airport, its Belconnen employees will remain in the Town Centre.

Some will relocate to the underutilised ABS Building on Benjamin Way, across the road from their main Belconnen building.

This is a tremendous result that the BCC, under former Chair Tara Cheyne, worked hard to achieve, with strong bipartisan political efforts at local and federal levels.

Todays announcement provides certainty to the workers and their families that faced enormous dislocation, and to the many small businesses that relied on the 4000 workers. The department employs around one third of the full time workforce located in the Town Centre and remains Belconnens largest employer.

This decision was almost certain following last years decision by the Finance Department to take local factors into consideration when contemplating relocation of departments.

The decision was advised to all staff via an email on 5 May 2016:

Belconnen retains its Immigration workforce

Belconnen retains its Immigration workforce

The media covered the decision here and here.

Senator Zed Seselja commented on the decision by saying:

“Along with the Belconnen community I fought to ensure the [department] remained in its current location with the same staffing footprint, and I’m pleased that we won that fight,”

“Our government is the first ever to take into consideration local impacts on Canberra before making a decision regarding departmental accommodation and today’s announcement shows just how important this was.

“We now have certainty for businesses and staff located at the Belconnen town centre.

“We all know that the presence of government departments in our town centres is critical to maintaining the viability of many local small businesses. This is how Canberra was designed and we need to protect that.

“A move of the DIBP from Belconnen town centre would not have been in the best interest of the Belconnen community. It was vital to ensure this did not happen.

May 5, 2016 in Community, Government, Media Reports, News Comments (1)

Mixed Use Development Proposal: Blocks 34 and 37 Section 52 Belconnen. Information session May 11 5.30-6.30PM – Community Room above Belconnen Library

Location of development proposal

Location of development proposal

Mixed Use Development Proposal: Blocks 34 and 37 Section 52 Belconnen.
Information session May 11 5.30-6.30PM
Community Room above Belconnen Library

Blocks 34 and 37 Section 52 Belconnen are situated between Emu Bank and the Westfield Belconnen carpark.

Blocks 34 and 37, Section 52

Blocks 34 and 37, Section 52

Block 34 is currently undeveloped and Block 37 currently comprises an at grade car park holding 55 carparks. The two blocks are separated by a right of way easement which provides access to the Westfield carpark, attached is a plan showing the location of the site.
The proponent, Per-se Developments, has developed an alternative to the existing approved development for these sites.

Buildings facing Lake Ginninderra

Buildings facing Lake Ginninderra

This includes a 13 storey residential/mixed use offering with ground floor commercial tenancies and car parking on Block 34. On Block 37, a residential/mixed use development is proposed with a swimming pool and gym that comprises a 24 storey and 18 storey tower including commercial/carparking base and basement carparking.

As part of the DA process the developers are consulting with a range of stakeholders, this includes an information session targeted to the community as well as engagement with surrounding businesses, neighbours and stakeholders.

They have organised for a community information drop in session to be held on Wednesday 11 May 2016 at the Belconnen Library Community Room, 12 Chandler Street Belconnen between 5:30pm and 8pm.

The session will be staffed by their designers and key consultants and will provide an opportunity for the public to raise any questions or provide comments on the proposal.

emubank 2

April 30, 2016 in News, Planning