Perry Lakes residential plans on track for September: McRae

A draft concept plan for the urban transformation of the ageing Perry Lakes stadium site is expected to be unveiled later this month.

Acting Planning and Infrastructure Minister Tony McRae said the plan for redeveloping the site into residential land had incorporated feedback from community consultation activities, including a community survey and an Open Day and Forum.

"Feedback from the forum will go a long way to determining the future of the site, but the community will have further opportunities to comment once the draft concept plan is released," Mr McRae said.

Among the priorities identified in the forum were:

• support for a mix of lot sizes and using design guidelines to ensure high quality housing styles which blended with existing residential types;
• a preference for low density housing. However, participants agreed there was scope for higher density dwellings up to three storeys in the middle of the subdivision and along Underwood Avenue;
• some support for dwellings up to five storeys restricted to the south-west quadrant of the site;
• encouraging sustainable building and landscape design by considering initiatives such as grey water re-use and solar passive orientation;
• creating areas of social amenity such as community spaces with links to the lake, a common green, playgrounds and possibly a café and deli;
• including pockets of public open space throughout the development, in particular along Brookdale and Alderbury Streets;
• investigating alternative water and drainage treatments to assist in protecting or even recharging the lakes; and
• making reference to the site's heritage, using street names or public art.

Forum participants felt that accommodation designed for over 55s, as required in the Perry Lakes Redevelopment Act 2005, should not be restricted to specific areas, but incorporated in the general housing of the subdivision.

LandCorp is managing the consultation process in consultation with the Town of Cambridge and the project's stakeholder reference group.