Article-RESIDENTS VOICE CONCERNS FOR VILLAGE DRIVE: Pinnacle Village Plans Draw Discussion
Kingborough Chronicle | 25 Februrary 2025: pgs 1, 6 & 7.
RESIDENTS VOICE CONCERNS FOR VILLAGE DRIVE: Pinnacle Village Plans Draw Discussion
Christian Homes Tasmania (CHT) has submitted plans for Pinnacle Village, a new ‘lifestyle’ village in Kingston offering not just aged care facilities, but facilities for the broader community, including a hairdresser, café and community meeting room.
Pinnacle Village is set to be based on 67 Village Drive, 41 Alfreds Garden and the adjoining Village Drive road reserve.
“We have the opportunity to revolutionise aged care in Tasmania,” CHT CEO Glenn Hardwick said.
“With over 50 years of delivering quality care, this is our most ambitious project yet.”
Pinnacle Village will introduce assisted living to Tasmania for the first time, allowing residents to enjoy private, serviced apartments with hotel-style luxury while receiving assistance with daily living activities.
The village also includes independent living units and a residential aged care facility, ensuring a continuum of care tailored to an individual’s needs as they age.
Whilst the new precinct has created a buzz in the community, two predominant concerns have arisen: access and the planning application’s timeframe.
The precinct can only be accessed by one road, Village Drive, which is already utilised by the Redwood Village residents who live along it.
The other concern is that residents may not see the planning application in time to make any submissions.
The application was submitted on Saturday, February 15, with the closing date for submissions this week on Friday, February 28.
This is the standard timeframe for submissions, but some of the Redwood Village residents, along with independent member for Nelson Meg Webb, have raised their concerns.
(From front page) Redwood Village residents Vicki and Sue met with independent member for Nelson Meg Webb to discuss the proposed Pinnacle Village precinct.
Vicki and Sue had no objections to the precinct itself, seeing it as an asset to the community, but were instead concerned by its accessibility.
Village Drive connects to Redwood Road at a roundabout and provides access to Redwood Village, including several internal residential access roads.
It extends approximately 720 metres south, terminating at a cul-de-sac, meaning that there is no alternative access road for the additional traffic caused by Pinnacle Village.
The planning application for Pinnacle Village includes a traffic impact assessment, which stated a “relatively low volume” of 1500 vehicles per day is estimated to use Village Drive.
The assessment anticipates that the overall development of Pinnacle Village will generate a further 487 vehicles per day with a peak of 50 vehicles per hour.
The assessment determined that this traffic generation will not have any significant adverse impact on the traffic efficiency or road safety of Village Drive.
Vicki and Sue expressed some doubts.
There is a posted speed limit of 20km/h along Village Drive, which Vicki said is rarely adhered to.
Whilst safety may be a concern, only three crashes have been recorded in the area over the last five years, all of them at Redwood Road roundabout, not Village Drive, and all resulting in property damage only.
Sue noted the existing cracks in the road, flagging a concern this may be exacerbated by additional traffic caused by the construction of Pinnacle Village.
Ms Webb suggested traffic calming measures might be considered, but stressed that the most important thing for the community is to share their feedback with Kingborough Council.
However, Ms Webb also acknowledged that a large number of potentially affected residents along Village Drive are in their 70s or older, and may have difficulty accessing technology to submit any comments, as well as lacking social media to learn this process is underway.
Ms Webb wrote a letter to Kingborough Council CEO Dave Stewart with these concerns.
“We understand that some members of our community may have difficulty accessing information on our website,” Mr Stewart said.
“In this case, we encourage people to call Kingborough Council on 6211 8200, or pop in to the Kingborough Council Civic Centre for further assistance and advice on options for making a representation.
“Under the legislation, members of the public have a minimum of 14 calendar days from the date of advertising of a development application to make a representation on the development.
“To ensure the community can respond to all applications, the documents are available on Council’s website and are also available for viewing at the Civic Centre for anyone without internet access.”
Local Vicki is also helping to spread the word with pamphlets that she has made and is delivering around the neighbourhood, encouraging the community to “have your say.”
