Ridgeside Lane project by Traders in Purple to be 'scaled back'

Ridgeside is the brainchild of Sydney-based developers Traders in Purple, who first unveiled the plans for the $450 million project four years ago in 2018.

Traders in Purple principal Charlie Daoud said the company was dedicated to seeing the project proceed, but it was always a long-term goal that would unfold over the next 10-20 years.

However, after community and government feedback, along with the impact of the pandemic had meant the company had the opportunity to really think about how to proceed.

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"It [the pandemic and the feedback] has given us more of an opportunity to consider the merit of the proposal and strategically plan the outcomes that we feel the community and the government wants to see," Mr Daoud said.

As a result, the original development application, which passed the Northern Midlands Council in 2020 and was sent to the state government will no longer be the vision.

Traders in Purple have now gone back to a phase of the project called planning in first principle and will re-look at the scale.

"We have gone back to the designs and will present a project that is smaller in scale than what we originally planned."

Mr Daoud said the decision to scale down the project was made due to the significant amount of community feedback, about the impact of essentially "creating a new town" near Evandale.

"So we will no longer be creating a new town, but we will be looking at designs that will enhance Evandale," he said.

The original Ridgeside proposal was a package of land that spanned a 242-hectare lot from Logan Road to White Hills, and would be twice the size of neighbouring Evandale.

The proposal included 447 residential allotments ranging in size from 450-square-metres to 5500-square-metres and 44 larger rural living lots to cater for different housing needs.

It also included the development of a 100-room hotel with a conference room and wedding facilities, a village with a cafe, restaurant and cellar door, a sustainability education hub, artisan village, workshop, studios and classrooms.

A retirement village with specialised aged care, palliative care, dementia care and independent living units also featured.

Mr Daoud said the scaled-back version of the plans had not been finalised, however, he said Traders In Purple remained committed to establishing a development that had its own unique identity.

He said revised plans would also include social and affordable housing that would be included to address Tasmania's housing affordability crisis.

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"We will be putting social housing forward as part of the [revised] plans to address the needs of the community, Mr Daoud said.

The breathing space on the project afforded by the community feedback, along with the pandemic, had allowed them to make sure the proposal had as much planning merit as possible, and that it also addressed concerns.

Then-Planning Minister Roger Jaensch said in 2020 the proponents needed to seek advice from all Tasmanian utility companies to ensure that all requirements were met.

At the time, it is understood only TasWater was consulted regarding getting drinking water to the site.

However, Mr Daoud said discussions and reports were being sought now to ensure services such as power, NBN and others could service the site.

Mr Daoud said the project was a long-term goal of the company, but that it was an example of the challenges facing Tasmania's housing crisis, that has emerged as a sustained problem for many people in the community.

He said housing policies from the state government, revealed this week, would not address existing challenges for developers, such as the social licence for high-density housing and issues around exclusionary zoning.

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Exclusionary zoning, which places restrictions on the types of housing that can be built in certain areas, would be "hard to get off the ground in Tasmania."

"It will be a cost thing, it costs twice as much to deliver an apartment than it does a single or double-storey home, so any rezoning would need to ensure that developers can take on the jobs and deliver it back to the community," he said.

Mr Daoud said there was a perception out there that developers were out to destroy communities, but he said it was a personal and professional goal of Traders in Purple to challenge that idea.

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The housing crisis is being felt everywhere, he said, but it was reaching its peak in Tasmania, and he believed the government was on the right track with some of its planning policies, such as mandated social housing.

However, he said other ideas put forward, particularly from lobby groups, regarding things like high-density housing would also be challenging for Tasmania.

"High-density housing is also hard to deliver, because land values decrease, but also in Tasmania it requires social licence from the community; I think adding in high-density housing would be hard for the community to accept," he said.