News from Council Meeting - 9 March 2021
Published on 09 March 2021
Private hospital approved
A planning application for a private hospital at New Town has been approved with conditions by the Hobart City Council.
The project involves demolition of existing buildings and the construction of a four-storey building to house in-patient and out-patient services including surgery and rehabilitation. It will also accommodated allied health services and car parking.
Previous applications for the proposal were unsuccessful due to an unreasonable impact on residential amenity. In the successful planning application, the building height and setbacks to the residential properties to the north and west have been altered to become compliant with the planning scheme and reducing the impacts on neighbouring properties.
Conditions have been placed on the approval to further reduce the impact on residents, including limiting the hospital’s public opening hours to between 7am and 8pm daily; and limiting the public opening hours for other sections of the development to between 8.30am and 5pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm Saturdays.
Conditions around lighting, signage and provision of fencing have also been included.
The proponent will be required to provide an approved Construction Management Plan – including a traffic and parking management plan – and make copies available to residents.
The Council requested that the City Infrastructure Committee consider any parking and traffic issues in the surrounding residential streets and that an active travel plan be developed for the site.
In-kind support for arts sector
Several high-profile City venues will be offered for use to the local arts sector at a reduced cost to support the recovery of the creative industries.
To encourage more performances and arts-based events in the city, the Hobart Town Hall, Underground, City Hall and Waterside Pavilion will be available at the reduced community hire rate for professional arts practitioners.
The Council noted that the arts sector continued to be one of the hardest hit by COVID‑19 restrictions. An analysis by profile.id estimated economic losses due to COVID-19 for the September 2020 quarter to be approximately $142 million for the Tasmanian arts and recreation sector.
In the Hobart local government area, the arts industry suffered an economic loss of around 46 per cent.
By making larger venues more affordable, artists have the opportunity to perform to larger audiences while still meeting density and physical distancing requirements.
Extension granted for night space
The Safe Night Space homeless support service will operate from the City of Hobart’s Youth Arts and Recreation Centre in City Hall until the end of May, while the search for a permanent home continues.
The Council tonight acknowledged that the youth centre was not an appropriate location for the service, which is provided by Hobart City Mission with funding from the state government.
The venue was provided through an in-kind arrangement for a six-month trial starting in December 2019 and was subsequently extended when the youth centre closed due to COVID-19, and has continued under a co-location arrangement.
The Council reiterated its support for the program but highlighted the need for a more suitable venue – ideally with amenities such as showers – to be identified as soon as possible.
The City of Hobart will also seek to establish an urgent roundtable discussion involving representatives from appropriate state government departments and other stakeholders to see help find an alternative location for the Safe Night Space program.
Memorial for Ali Sultan
An appropriate location will be identified for a memorial commemorating the contributions to the city by late Hobart developer Ali Sultan.
In moving the motion, Ald Marti Zucco said Mr Sultan had made a significant contribution to the city, with developments including the Wellington Centre, the Market Place Car Park, the Savoy Hotel and Baths Complex and the Mantra Hotel on Collins Street.
“Suitable recognition of this contribution is considered appropriate,” he said.
The location and type of memorial will be determined in consultation with Mr Sultan’s family.
Huon Rd speed review
The City of Hobart will make an application for the speed limit on a section of Huon Road to be reduced from 70km/h to 60km/h.
The 2.5km section of road lies between two existing 60km/h zones and a road safety audit found the road was not suitable for the higher speed limit.
The City has received numerous requests to apply to the Transport Commissioner to lower the speed limit. In the past five years, 20 crashes were recorded on the stretch of road.
The proposed speed reduction would provide consistency for drivers and support safety outcomes for all road users in accordance with Tasmanian Department of State Growth Towards Zero Action Plan 2020-2024.