Talking Point: Reach for the sky but settle for less

DON NEIL: Fragrance’s latest proposal for Hobart is still far too high and just part of the Singapore developer’s ambit claim

FUTURE: Hobart’s building heights in the spotlight. Picture: KYLE GARDNER, AERIAL VISION AUSTRALIA

IT was inevitable the Singapore-based Fragrance Group would make a token offer to reduce the height of its proposed hotel development in Sullivans Cove in an attempt to win planning approval.

Compromise is a traditional tactic used by developers to try to bluff the community into thinking it has forced change and therefore should now accept the revised proposal.

The community should not be fooled by this tactic.

Any revision that continues to ignore Sullivans Cove Planning Scheme height recommendations must be rejected as unacceptable.

Fragrance knows the rules. It has already built Hobart’s largest hotel, the very successful Ibis Styles, which conforms with all planning rules and is an excellent addition to the city’s 4-star rooms mix. It should continue to comply with the rules or take its money elsewhere where developers are free to do as they like.

It’s worth considering the extent to which the compromise proposal is intended to bluff.

Fragrance’s original plan was to build a 75m high hotel in lower Collins St, even though it was well aware that under the Sullivans Cove Planning Scheme the intended height limit for buildings in the historic precinct is 15m. That makes their original proposal five times more than the recommended height.

Rightly, this extraordinary overreach was condemned by the community.

However, as audacious as it was, that original proposal was almost certainly a deliberate strategy by Fragrance. It was working on the basis that by asking for far more than it expected to achieve, it could negotiate to precisely where it wanted. It was an ambit claim.

Now Fragrance appears to be moving into a new phase of this strategy. By showing a willingness to compromise, it hopes to reduce community resistance and secure approval for a proposal that comes closest to its objectives.

But what sort of compromise is it suggesting? In truth, it is one that should attract the same level of condemnation from the community and planning authorities.

Fragrance is suggesting the community should accept a building that is 50m high, which is still more than three times the limit that is set out under the Sullivans Cove Planning Scheme.

How could it believe that would be acceptable?

Well, that’s apparently the strategy — to wear down the opposition over time. Such a tactic requires deep pockets, and Fragrance certainly has those. It is a very substantial business investment house with more than enough money and patience to try to outlast opponents.

And if it eventually wins a substantial concession in the height of the Collins St hotel, what level of concession will it seek for its proposed Davey St hotel, which it wants to tower a staggering 210m above Hobart’s iconic waterfront. That is nearly 12 times the intended height limit of 18m for that area of the waterfront.

Under the Sullivans Cove Planning Scheme, Hobart City Council can exercise discretion in its approval of building developments. That means it can compromise. But should that be to approve a building that is more than three times higher than intended under the planning scheme? Surely not.

Any compromise that seeks to flout the intention of the so-called deemed compliance heights set out in the scheme, simply to accommodate the requirements of the Singapore investment group, would be setting one rule for local developers and another for foreign developers.

Given the level of public rejection the proposed hotel developments have attracted, it must be clear to everyone that Fragrance has no social licence for building such enormous skyscrapers in the heart of the city’s historic centre. That’s hardly surprising.

This issue hinges on the intelligent interpretation of the Sullivans Cove Planning Scheme which states: “Future development within the Cove should respect the scale of the Cove’s built form — new buildings should not be out of scale with neighbouring buildings or the general character of the Cove.”

Under the section Urban Character: “No new development or part of a development is to be individually prominent, particularly when viewed from Sullivans Cove or the River Derwent.”

It will be a measure of our council’s integrity and resolve that it abides by the planning scheme and reflects the depth of the public’s opposition to these proposed developments.

Don Neil is the owner of the Hadley’s Orient Hotel and the award-winning Woolstore Apartments.