Hobart City planning committee approves Sandy Bay apartment development

Residents have slammed a Sandy Bay apartment project which has been given the green light, saying they are fearful of landslips after a “bitter” previous experience.

Lush, leafy apartments proposed for Sandy Bay. Image: Cumulus

A plan for 11 new apartments in Sandy Bay has been given the green light, despite concerns from neighbours it could lead to landslip issues.

At the site at 47 Manning Ave, a two-building apartment complex with 11 dwellings comprising nine three-bedroom units and two two-bedroom units will be built.

Each building would be three storeys high, and both will have an enclosed garage on the ground floor, providing two spaces for each apartment.

The development has been promised to result in a makeover for what’s currently considered an “urban weedscape”.

On Wednesday, the DA was considered by the Hobart City planning authority, which heard from property owners opposed to the build.

“We’re not opposed to development at 47 Manning avenue, we are opposed to the scale of what is proposed,” a neighbour told the committee.

Lush, leafy apartments proposed for Sandy Bay. Image: Cumulus

The resident was concerned by the possibility of a landscape risk and how earthworks might affect neighbouring properties.

“The earthworks involved will probably be in the order of 700 cubic metres, that’s just for building one,” he said.

“What the impact of the earth removal will be on the steep slope on which our apartment sits, we don’t know.

“We do know from bitter personal experience, back in our previous home that heavy earthworks even 100 metres away can cause significant damage.”

Tract town planning consultant Luke Chamberlain said the developer was committed to continuing discussion with the surrounding residents.

“We’ve got an opportunity here to make this site a lot better,” he said.

“We’ve worked through this methodically … all of it works on the advice we’ve received.

“We think this will be a beautiful project, we think this will be revered,

“It’s nestled into the site quite deliberately … and we’ve purposefully quarantined one half of the site where we could have in fact sited buildings.”

Mr Chamberlain said he didn’t share the concern about landslip risk or the view the building would be “huge”.

“We back the advice of our engineers,” Mr Chamberlain said.

“We understand the structural integrity of the slope will be maintained through careful construction management plans.”