Another positive step has been taken to breathe new life into the heart of Playford, with Council progressing plans to reshape the Elizabeth CBD into a thriving retail, business and entertainment precinct.
At a Special Council Meeting on Tuesday 30 November, Council selected proponents to develop site-specific, detailed proposals for the development of the CBD.
It’s an exciting stage for the project, with proponents now providing detailed concept designs. It moves us a step closer to considering what new buildings, features and experiences will form part of the renewed city centre.
The detailed concept designs must be in line with Council’s vision for the CBD and proponents must also provide important information such as project delivery strategies and financial plans.
The decision follows a recently held Expression of Interest process in which the market was invited to submit proposals to Council.
No commitments or contracts have been entered into at this stage.
Refreshing the windbreaks
As part of assessing which proposals will move to the next stage of the project, Council also considered the relationship of the Main North Road windbreaks to the CBD project.
The vision for the CBD is to have a mix of commercial, retail and experience offerings, as well as open, green space for public use. Council decided:
- To completely remove land on the eastern side of Main North Road, between Yorktown and Midway Roads, from potential development as part of this project.
- To remove all land from the western side of Main North Road, between Philip Highway and Judd Road, from potential development as part of this project, except for a parcel at the northern end (near Philip Highway) and a parcel at the southern end (near Judd Road) to allow for potential development that supports community needs.
- Council will now write to the Local Government Minister seeking to amend its application for the revocation of community land to this smaller footprint.
Excitingly, if development proceeds at the northern and southern ends of Main North Road, a master planning process will take place that will refresh and enhance the windbreaks for community use, and include things like shared use paths for cycling and walking, open space amenities and enhanced landscaping. The master planning process will include appropriate community engagement.
An informed decision
We have always said that we wouldn’t make a decision about community land revocation until proposals from the EOI had been appropriately evaluated.
Now that we have assessed the submissions, we have identified two portions of the windbreaks intended to remain in the project for potential development. These are at the southern and northern ends of the western side of Main North Road (see map to below).
This decision was also importantly informed by feedback from our community, which preferred to see the majority of the windbreaks retained as green, community spaces.
Potential development of the two identified sites will help create an enhanced gateway into the CBD, while providing an opportunity for Council to uplift the windbreaks and create more useable, open spaces.
This aligns to Council’s vision for the CBD; to provide a thriving mix of retail, commercial, entertainment and public spaces that will bring new life and activity to the centre of Playford.
Sharing our plans
As this is a competitive process, the meeting on Tuesday 30 November was held in confidence.
While this means we can’t share details about the proposals with you at this stage, we are keen to let you know about the decision on the windbreaks and have made this public.
We think the decision on the windbreaks strikes a good balance between enhancing and improving the entrance to our CBD, while retaining lots of open, green, community space that has the potential to be uplifted, activated and enjoyed by residents and visitors to Playford.
We look forward to sharing with you what specific buildings and public spaces might look like in the CBD, as the project progresses.
