Hundreds share views on Hobart’s hot-button issues of cable car and building heights for CBD

A PUBLIC meeting at Hobart City Hall has called on the Hobart City Council to get on with setting a maximum building height for the Hobart CBD.

The meeting on Hobart building heights was the first of two back-to-back public meetings called after the council received petitions with more than 1000 signatures.

About 600 people attended the meeting on building heights.

The meetings were also watched by thousands of readers online via the Mercury’s live stream.

Hobart Not Highrise co-ordinator Brian Corr said the turnout showed the strength of the opposition to skyscrapers in Hobart.

“This is a chance for residents to stand up for our beautiful heritage low rise city,” he said.

Campaigners Hobart not Highrise group have been urging Hobart City Council to get on with setting a height limit in line with an expert report from architect Leigh Woolley, which recommends a 60m height limit.

Last month Hobart City Council sensationally deferred a decision on building heights after intervention from Planning Minister Roger Jaensch, who was seeking a collaborative approach with the State Government.

Most who spoke at the meeting were concerned about Hobart’s heritage and unique character being eroded by council’s ability to approve tall buildings in the continued absence of a maximum buildings height limit.

Renowned Tasmanian Architect Robert Morris-Nunn, who supports the height limit, said there were more innovative ways to develop in Hobart.

“Not many people would know there’s a 50 room hotel being built in Salamanca at the moment. It’s being built within the historic framework. These sorts of possibilities should be explored,” he said.

Clark Independent MP Andrew Wilkie criticised councillors who didn’t show up to the meeting.

“The role of councillors is to be here tonight, and it beggars belief that about half aren’t,” he said.

The public meeting resolved to go further than a 60m height limit, urging council to set 45m limit.

A petition will open today calling for a poll of Hobart electors on building heights.

Heated debate about highrises in Hobart was kicked off in 2017 by proposals from Singapore-based hotel builder Fragrance Group to build two skyscrapers, one 75m high and one 120m high, in the CBD.

BY the time the kunanyi/Mt Wellington cable car meeting came around, about 1000 people had congregated in City Hall.

Members of the strongly anti-cable car crowd expressed anger at State Government moves to progress the proposal and vowed to pursue every avenue to stop it.

Respect the Mountain co-ordinator Ted Cutlan blasted both major parties for their stance, or lack thereof, on the cable car.

“(Premier Will Hodgman) thinks we are part of the anti-everything brigade. I’m here to say we are part of the for-the-mountain brigade … the Labor Party, what do they stand for? They have a policy on the cable car that must have been written by a minder. I’m going to call them out here and now. They need to stand up for something,” Mr Cutlan said.

Mr Cutlan said the building planned for the pinnacle was one of the most concerning aspects of the MWCC proposal.

“The pinnacle building is going to be 4000 square metres in surface area … it’s three times the size of this building (the City Hall) and they want to put that on the top of the Organ Pipes.”

Theresa Sainty, from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, said kunanyi was a “beautiful, spiritual place” that remained Aboriginal land, and urged council to reject a cable car.

“For thousands of years people cared for this country,” she said.

In 2016, Hobart City Council decided not to allow the MWCC access to the mountain, however this decision was overidden by legislation passed in 2017 that gave the State Government the ability to grant access to a potential developer.

The State Government has since granted the MWCC authorities to drill on kunanyi/Mt Wellington and conduct geotechnical and flora and fauna surveys as part of a development application.

A timeline around any drilling has not been revealed, however protests including a picnic and vigil have been held on the mountain in anticipation of the works.

Members of the Mount Wellington Cableway Company did not attend the meeting.

In a statement read out by meeting chair Alex Johnston, the MWCC said:

“They consider it premature and not consistent with the processes they are currently engaged in with the council and the Mount Wellington Management Trust.”

Mercury Newspaper | April 17, 2019