Ceased to be an issue in 2008
Background
March 2006 (possibly a misprint for March 2007)
A proposal was submitted by The YRA Hill Corner Subcommitte to Minister for Planning Simon Corbell about protecting Hill Corner Park as park.
24 April 2007
Simon Corbell confirmed in a media release that he had asked ACTPLA to prepare a variation to the Territory Plan to change the land use policy from Community Facilities to Urban Open Space.
A development application (No. 200601605) for a proposed expansion of the St Nicholas Greek-Australian Preschool was opposed by the YRA (refer to YRA response of 10 May 2007).
November 2007
Rezoning was announced after Andrew Barr, Minister for Planning, agreed to change the land use policy for the Hill Corner parkland from Community Facility to Urban Open Space in the Territory Plan in July 2007.
Mediation continued with the St Nicholas Greek-Australian Preschool due to resident concerns, which resulted in the pre-school revising its proposal.
May 2008
The ACT Administrative Appeals Tribunal handed down its decision to allow a variation to the Crown lease to allow the premises to be used 'only for the purpose of a preschool and childcare centre for a maximum of 30 children, with a maximum of 15 [of these] children at the premises for the purposes of attending a childcare centre'.
The YRA contacted various political parties to ensure there was full support for the rezoning to urban space provided for in the restructured Territory Plan.
Candidates or parties who gave explicit written support for the preservation of the current zoning of Hill Corner parkland (Block 3, Section 69) as urban open space included:
- ACT Greens (Shane Rattenbury)
- Australian Motorist Party
- Canberra Party (Richard Mulchay)
- Liberal Party of Australia (ACT Division)
- Pangallo Independents Party
The Australian Labor Party was not approached because the rezoning of the Hill Corner parkland as urban open space was achieved through the strong support of Simon Corbell and Andrew Barr in their successive roles as Minister for Planning in 2007.
