A New Centre for the Town
The Council has for some time been working on improving the land it owns in the area bounded by Albany Hwy, Kent Street, Gloucester Street and Sussex Street.
Current
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In 2000 a consultant was contracted to determine what improvements were required and how they could be implemented. The report identified that it would be advantageous to undertake the improvements in conjunction with other stakeholders and recommended various levels of partnering opportunities. One of these opportunities was with the owners of the adjacent Shopping Centre, Hawaiian.
In April 2001 the Council resolved to receive the report and utilise it as a guide for future development in this area. Since then the Council have entered into discussions with Hawaiian, which culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of a Structure Plan (the plan) for the area now identified as the Town Centre (refer image above?). The Planning Group, Town Planning and urban Design (tpg) have been engaged to assist the Council and Hawaiian in developing the plan. One of the first phases of the plan was to undertake various levels of consultation with the community and other stakeholders, which commenced with an advert being placed in the Southern Gazette on 11 March 2008 inviting input from the community by completing a short questionnaire. Letters were also sent to the direct stakeholders inviting them to get involved in the same way.
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Future
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The response from the consultation to date has been very positive and diverse with common threads being the creation of a modern, vibrant and safe place that considers the Town’s history. Improvements proposed include increased retail/commercial including restaurants, regular markets, improved library, cultural and art/music services. The respondents to the questionnaire were invited to a workshop with the consultant to assist in forming the plan. The before and after images above provide an impression of what the area currently looks like and what it can look like once developed.
VICTORIA PARK TOWN CENTRE
STAKEHOLDER AND COMMUNITY WORKSHOP 30 APRIL 2008
KEY OUTCOMES AND OPPORTUNITIES
- Establish a vibrant family friendly open space and a balance between size and purpose.
- Reinstate strip shopping along Albany Highway and Sussex Street and explore opportunities for such retail types on potential linkages internal to the subject site.
- Reduce impact of car parking by exploring alternative underground or above ground car parking configurations.
- Rename Albany Highway to (Old) Albany Road to reduce perception of the strip as a vehicle oriented precinct.
- Internalise traffic and heavy vehicle access to reduce impact of commercial traffic on local residents.
- Improve existing retail environment and its interface with the public realm.
- Reconfigure existing recreational community facilities to provide active edges, improve street presence and relationship to community.
- Upgrade unsafe and unserveilled areas.
- Utilise topography to create appropriate height interface and passive surveillance of public realm.
- Reconsider the design of existing road networks to reduce the potential for pedestrian/vehicle related conflict to improve pedestrian access across existing roads such as Kent Street and Albany Highway.
- Improve site access from Mint Street intersection.
- Potential for central Town Square to facilitate community based activity.
- Explore relationship between the Town Centre and existing public transport networks to identify potential improvements to reduce vehicle dependency.
- Reconsider lighting of the POS and public realm to improve general safety within the Town Centre.
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