Giralang shops has sat derelict for far too long. The situation is beyond ridiculous. It needs immediate resolution.
UPDATE: See my tangible commitment to finally finish the shops – Community co-operative supermarket to anchor Giralang Shops
For those who have been following the 15 year saga of the Giralang shops, you will know the frustration, disappointment, and anger experienced by residents at the lack of progress. The developer has gone to great expense to overcome the hurdles placed in the way, and are still at the table battling for a good outcome for Giralang.
I won’t go over the entire history. I will leave that to the Giralang Residents Action Group. Suffice to say, Giralang has been fighting for their suburb for 15 years. There have been 3 approved Development Applications to rebuild the shops in that time, but there are still no shops.
The developer of the shops has said they were unable to secure an anchor tenant for a 1,000sqm supermarket. The first two approved supermarkets were 1,666sqm and 1,500sqm. This appears to be key to the development, as the residents want their shops back.
Since the original supermarkets were approved, the planning code has reduced the maximum size of a supermarket here to 1,000sqm. This means the developer can no longer build what they had originally planned, and what the community wanted. Even though the legal challenges against the development failed, the appellants still “won”, in that construction was stalled long enough for the development applications to lapse.
Actions
- Allow a 1,666sqm supermarket here, as was originally approved. This should remove the blocker to proceeding with development. A larger supermarket also aligns with ACCC statements on a supermarket in Giralang relating to the closest competitor being Coles in Kaleen.
- While I am open to the ACT Government buying back the land from the developer, I do believe they are passionate about seeing a good outcome for Giralang. I will support what I see as the best course of action to progress shops for Giralang.
- I have spoken with and will continue to cooperate with the developer to achieve an outcome for the Giralang community.
David, We are original residents of Giralang – from 1975 onwards. We have been active in the shops saga and are disappointed that it has come to this. Indeed, we approached the developer as a potential tenant on the space ( but not the anchor tenant ). So, we are still keen to see progress. The current Minister Gentleman is simply best left out of the equation given his capacity to deal with anything. So, your suggestion of a community based co-op would be a useful option, particularly when the space would be expanded to 1500 square metres. I have a couple of suggestions to assist ( offline) if that were useful to add to the equation. First goal would to be elected I suppose!
Yes, first goal is to get elected. I intend to follow through with this plan regardless of the outcome of the election, but I obviously have much higher chance of success if I am elected. I think whoever wins the election would be silly to let it fester for 4 more years when there is a solution on the table.
You are spot on with everything you have said. I try to run a very positive campaign, and not dump on the other candidates. Fortunately, the public has a pretty good idea of what most of them are like. There are some good ones, and some not so good.
I’ve got your details now so will be in touch for the next steps, but feel free to reach out to me any time.