Friends of Federal Fairways, which has 69 followers on Facebook, has applied to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) for a review of ACT Planning's Conditional Approval of Mbark's retirement village at Federal Golf Club in Red Hill, a suburb of Canberra.
The upmarket village operator, which owns and operates The Arbour in Berry, 143km south of Sydney, and Wivenhoe Village in Cobbity, 65km southwest of Sydney, was given a 99-year peppercorn lease in October 2015 to develop a village with amenities to provide an on-going revenue stream to the golf club. Club members voted and accepted the golf club retirement village plan the following year.
In November last year, Mbark was given conditional approval of a lease variation by the ACT Government to build the retirement village of 125 dwellings (77 houses and 48 units in six three-storey blocks) on 6ha of the club's golf course.
“Once effected, this approval will match the uses permitted in the club’s crown lease with those that already exist in the Territory Plan,” Mbark Director David Consalvi said at the time. The further seven development applications and two amended applications were being assessed.
Within a month, Friends of Federal Fairways, applied to ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal to review the approval, claiming it was assessed on merit rather than impact. The group argues the development would put the habitat of native animals, including endangered gang-gang cockatoos, at stake. The opponents also claim the development application for the 125 homes was not assessed under the correct Planning Act.
The ACT Government has switched from assessing development applications under the Planning and Development Act 2007 to the Planning Act 2023. Mbark's plan for the golf course was assessed under the old Act.
The opponents say they believe the application would not have been approved under the new legislation, which placed more weight on the impact development has on existing communities than the old legislation did. A six-month transition period, during which development applications could be assessed under both the old and current legislation, was set to end on 27 May, 2024. An amendment to Mbark's application was made to the ACT Planning Authority on 28 May.
A lawyer representing Mbark, Alisa Taylor, told the Canberra Times that 27 May was a public holiday so the final day for applications to be submitted under the old legislation was pushed back in accordance with the ACT Legislation Act.
An initial hearing later this month (January 2025) will determine if the dates of submission are valid. Other points raised by the group, including on environmental issues and zoning, are likely to be discussed in an additional April hearing.
Federal Golf Club president Regina Neary said "time was of the essence" if the project was to remain viable. The club had previously said the development was necessary if it was to stay afloat.
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