University of Tasmania will seek a planning scheme amendment to allow it to address all the concerns over its Inveresk campus in one application.
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The Inveresk precinct is located across seven sites, on several different parts of land. The land was transferred to UTAS by the City of Launceston council over the past two years to allow it to proceed with the development.
"Each parcel of land has its own concerns, whether that's with parking, flood mitigation, access and others," pro-vice chancellor David Adams said.
UTAS announced on Friday that the campus would be delivered under a staged construction, rather than one construction project. This comes after the DA for the site missed its deadline. The DA was expected to be lodged with the council by the end of 2018.
However, Professor Adams said in order for the campus to be a success, a staged construction was necessary, to support Tasmania's construction industry.
"We are working out how we can simultaneously stay within these timelines [we've set] and do things on multiple sites," he said.
One of the main reasons for the staged construction is to allow UTAS to support the construction industry, which is already under pressure due to a large number of infrastructure projects slated for Launceston.
The most recent being upgrades to Launceston College, with construction tenders for the $750,000 upgrades to the science building advertised on Sunday.
Professor Adams said UTAS was in discussion with the Launceston council about how to address the planning scheme amendment, which would then, in turn, go to the Tasmanian Planning Commission.
"Planning legislation in Tasmania allows for an applicant to seek a planning scheme amendment, and such applications are initially assessed by local councils," City of Launceston general manager Michael Stretton said.
"If a council supports an amendment it will be publicly advertised to seek representations and the council will then report to the Tasmanian Planning Commission, which will conduct its own assessment process."
The Tasmanian Planning Commission would then decide whether or not to approve the amendment, a decision that is also subject to the appeal process.
UTAS is already embroiled in a planning scheme amendment appeal process, with a hearing held in the Hobart Supreme Court on February 21.
The hearing, in front of Justice Stephen Estcourt, heard UTAS wanted to appeal the decision made by the Tasmanian Planning Commission in regard to an amendment that would allow a rezoning of some parts of the Sandy Bay campus.
The amendment would allow UTAS to divest of "surplus resources" which was denied by the planning commission last year.
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