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As a professional who has travelled extensively overseas, and been a Planner
and Heritage Consultant for the Adelaide City Council, I am dismayed at what,
in this day and age, is still happening to Adelaide’s historic buildings compared
to other cities.
I am not into broad platitudes and am happy to be judged by what I have done since I was elected in 2007. With the support of the current council, I have:
Download PDF - City Heritage Map (1.1MB)
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Proposed a way to develop LeCornu site to 6 storeys, retaining
the existing 2-storey scale to perimeter & retaining Café Paesano
and requested a stay of its execution, so as not to exacerbate
the visual blight of North Adelaide’s biggest vacant site, until it
is developed.
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Amended Heritage Plaques program to include the actual date
of construction, to be more accurate & informative and have
archival photographs included on Historic city Businesses Plaques.
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Pushed for substantial contributions to the car parking fund to
ultimately enable creation of additional car parking for the likes
of the Melbourne Street’s Dunn Street car park.
- Saved the historic Victoria Park gatehouse, Victorian era kiosk
and ticket booth, complete with cresting matching the Victoria
Park grandstand.
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Introduced the 1% Green Rate (Fly-Buy equivalent), which annually
yields enough to fund the likes of the new co-generation plant
at the North Adelaide Aquatic Centre, saving money and carbon.
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Put in place, by way of Section 30 Review of the Development
Plan, the inclusion of defined podiums and tower setbacks adjacent
to heritage, or within historic streetscapes.
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Successfully argued to retain and authentically restore the white
ant affected PAC boatshed, rather than demolish it.
- Suggested and advocated the re-publication of the “Progressive
Adelaide, 1936” large format book juxtaposing the streetscapes
of Adelaide ‘then and now’, coming out in the new year as well
as funding a “History of Parklands” book.
- Endeavoured to use Council’s part ownership of the Harris Scarfe
site to leverage the retention of the unlisted historic buildings
around the perimeter including Axel Beers.
- Increased funding assistance for Heritage property owners from
$10,000 to $30,000 for owners making significant improvements
to their property, reinstating lost features etc, which benefits all
who enjoy looking at our heritage.
- Endeavoured to save the Morgan Building at Pulteney Grammar,
and brought publicity to the vulnerable state of unprotected
Heritage in Adelaide.
Adelaide is still losing the very buildings that make Adelaide a particularly attractive and charming city in which to live and work. Over 20 historic buildings have been lost in North Adelaide since 2006.
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Reinstated Council policy of accepting all representations on
Cat 2 Developments, not just from immediately adjoining owners
formally notified.
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Pursuing illumination of significant trees to the inner perimeter
of our parklands including North Adelaide.
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Designated Motor Bike Parking Spaces to be created and marked
where car parks won’t fit as now seen at ends of angle parking
bays in Tynte Street.
- Introduced $250K budget line for Main Street Program to enable
restoration of currently unlisted historic properties, which had
been bastardised in the 60’s for Adelaide’s Main Streets including
O’Connell Street and Melbourne Street.
I believe strongly that Adelaide should not have a defeatist ‘we must take what we can get’ attitude in terms of development, but rather that commercially and culturally as a community, we should take advantage of Adelaide’s historic built form assets. We needn’t throw the proverbial ‘baby out with the bath water’.
View of Makris proposal (wireframe) from Oxford relative to my suggested approach
Cafe Paesano
- Proposed way to develop LeCornu site to 6 storeys, retaining existing 2-storey scale to perimeter & retaining Café Paesano.
Aerial view of my suggested approach with 6-storeys to middle and
Café Paesano retained on corner with 2-storey perimeter buildings to match prevalent historic scale of buildings in O’Connell Street.
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Sought ways to quantify and minimise the development potential yield difference between listed and unlisted properties.
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Call for all Park Land lessees to be connected to the GAP (Glenelg
Adelaide Pipeline), in lieu of bore or Murray water.
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E-waste policy to ensure lead containing computer & TV monitors
are recycled rather than go to landfill on hard rubbish days.
- Introduced program of De-Cladding historic buildings, which have been covered over /modernised in the 1960’s as part of Heritage Incentives Scheme.
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Introduced the 1% Green Rate (Fly-Buy equivalent), which annually yields enough to fund the likes of the new co-generation plant at the North Adelaide Aquatic Centre.
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Encourage and facilitate owners of small cottages to change over
large 240L bins for smaller 140L bins to reduce visual blight of
rubbish bins on verandahs in small streets.
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Staged Developments – call on Administration to cease staged
developments where it results in premature demolition and creation
of vacant sites.
I have worked with a range of different developers and I know that what they want is certainty, not ‘carte blanche’ where almost anything goes in terms of new development and the current, absurd situation, where some properties are heritage listed and other identical buildings are not.
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