'This one is borderline': Councillor concerns over 12-unit development

The development at 44 Marion Avenue, Newstead includes a mix of two- and three-storey dwellings and was granted council approval when City of Launceston councillors met on March 21.

A petition bearing 25 signatures - one of them a duplicate, giving a total of 24 - urging the council to refuse the development was also tabled at the meeting.

The planned development required discretionary approval on a variety of issues including building size and traffic impact as it would lead to up to 108 extra car movements per day on the residential cul-de-sac.

The land was also subject to a historic vegetation protection condition, which was superseded by the current planning scheme and removed by the council.

Councillor Danny Gibson said councillors should "err on the side of caution" as he believed the discretionary matters would not withstand scrutiny by a tribunal.

"This one is borderline," Cr Gibson said.

"I think it's borderline simply because of the intensity, simply because of the impact and simply because of the terrain and just the nature of what is being required.

"In those instances we should err on the side of caution."

This attitude was shared by councillor Tim Walker, who said the application was "flying too close to the wind" and the density of units gave him pause.

Per council regulations, density is calculated by dividing the overall lot size - in this case 4833 square metres - by the number of units.

This gave a figure of 402.75 square metres per dwelling for the Marion Avenue development, above the minimum 325 square metres per dwelling required by legislation

However councillors Walker and Susie Cai felt this was misleading as this figure did not account for an internal driveway, and the space given to individual units was less than the minimum required.

"It does fly close to the wind in terms of its impact on people's amenity, and that is on a short, normally quiet street, a really large increase in the traffic movement," Cr Walker said.

"It's also the actual density of housing in that area. I have nothing against high density living in appropriate areas.

"I do question whether that's the intent of the planning scheme that you end up with a block that's really 165 square meters rather than the minimum in a general residential area."

Councillor Joe Pentridge said he begrudgingly supported the proposal as it was compliant, but he felt like councillors were being placed into a difficult position.

"What I'm disappointed in is, once again, we as councillors are in a position where we have to go beyond what I believe is normal to be fair," he said.

"I actually know the developer - I don't think that puts me in a biased position.

"He's got land, he needs to develop it and it complies with the rules."

Councillor Alan Harris said the plans would withstand scrutiny by a tribunal, and freeing up land for development was an important consideration.

"The good thing is that this will provide 12 new homes in Launceston, and we do need new homes," he said.

"I've been saying for the last five years that the longer we are here, the more we're going to see these developments on the bits of land that are hard to develop.

"There are simply no more easy bits of land to develop, or they are further from the city."

Crs Cai, Gibson and Walker all voted against approving the application, while the remaining six councillors in attendance voted in favour.