Gifford Hill’s first stage gets underway with land rezoning
After two years of behind-the-scenes planning work, the biggest development project in the Murraylands’ history has reached a public start line.
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One of the biggest residential developments in South Australia’s history is about to kick off at Gifford Hill, just outside Murray Bridge.
A public consultation period has begun as developers plan to rezone 116 hectares of land for the development’s first stage.
The land, south of the South Eastern Freeway and west of Brinkley Road, consists mostly of open paddocks owned indirectly by the developers and a local family.
The developers, Gifford Hill Farms, hope to change the planning rules in the area to make way for a “master planned neighbourhood”.
That would allow roads, shops and homes to be placed wherever they need to go.
The first stage of development would include:
- About 1100 homes – mostly detached houses, including affordable housing, but potentially a few townhouses or low-rise apartments along a main road
- A handful of local shops, perhaps including a medical and/or child care centre
- An area of 10.4 hectares for sports and recreation – almost twice the size of Johnstone Park
Existing stands of trees would be protected, and a low-lying area would give stormwater somewhere to pool during heavy rain.
“Gifford Hill has long been identified as a key growth area for Murray Bridge due to its location, access to regional transport infrastructure and capacity to accommodate future urban expansion,” consultants Ekistics said in a statement.
“The proposed code amendment seeks to apply a consistent planning approach … providing greater certainty for the long-term development of the precinct.
“Future development could include a diverse range of housing options, community facilities, recreation areas, education facilities, local shops, offices and other services that support a growing neighbourhood.”
But it wasn’t about to become another Mount Barker, a patchwork of poorly connected housing developments, director Beck Thomas told Murray Bridge News at a drop-in session on Wednesday.
“Longer-term, the intent is that (the first stage of development) will all integrate with the rest of Gifford Hill,” she said.
“It wouldn’t sit in isolation; it would be integrated through internal connector roads to all the various centres.”
Locals visited the Bridges Event Centre in dribs and drabs on Wednesday afternoon, viewing plans and asking questions.
Feedback will also be collected online over the next month.
Comments collected from the public will go into a report which will be submitted to state Planning Minister Nick Champion by December.
The minister will have the final say over whether the zoning changes should go ahead.
If he gives the thumbs-up, developers Grange Development and Costa Property Group would then need to divide the land into blocks, which would trigger another round of reports and consultation.
A number of months would likely pass before any of the Gifford Hill housing blocks became available for sale to the public, and no new homes would likely be completed for another year or two after that.
How does this zoning change fit into the broader Gifford Hill development?
Although the current consultation represents the first public progress on the $7.6 billion, 17,000-home development, a great deal of work has been going on behind the scenes.
Of particular interest is a structure plan which sets out, in mathematical detail, the social infrastructure that will be needed at Gifford Hill over the next 40 years.
Across the whole 1860-hectare area, that infrastructure would include:
- Shops and offices: Seven shopping areas of various sizes, including a CBD opposite the existing racecourse and function centre
- Education: Two high schools, four primary schools, six preschools and 11 child care centres
- Health: One “community health hub” with a range of services, plus as many as seven local GP clinics
- Community services: Two community hubs or libraries
- Sport: Four sporting precincts with up to four ovals, eight rectangular pitches and a dozen netball/tennis courts between them
The main road through the area would be a boulevard which would come off Brinkley Road north of the racecourse and, eventually, connect with an expanded freeway interchange at White Hill.
A network of parks and pathways, not unlike those envisioned by Don Dunstan at Monarto 50 years earlier, would criss-cross the area.
Images included in planning documents illustrate the kind of lifestyle the developers envisage at Gifford Hill. Photos: TCL Landscape Architects, the Canopy, Green Sheep Collective.
The first precinct to be developed would be the one currently open to consultation.
Second would be an area on the other side of Murray Bridge Racing Club, north of Usher Road and near the club’s sand training track.
Early on, a wastewater treatment plant would also be built south of Usher Road, a water main would be extended from Adelaide Road, and a high-voltage power line would be run from Jervois Road; an NBN conduit is already in place.
The rest of the central area between Brinkley and Koehler Roads would then be gradually filled out, with the area east of Brinkley Road to come after that, depending on how the rest of Murray Bridge grows during the 2030s.
The westernmost end of the proposed Gifford Hill development would not happen until the mid-21st century.
That might sound unfathomably distant, but remember: the racing club’s original vision for this development was first articulated nearly 20 years ago now.
Hear more from developer James Dibble next week
In the meantime, developer James Dibble will give a first-hand update on the Gifford Hill development at a business breakfast to be hosted by Murray Bridge News next Wednesday.
Mr Dibble is the managing director of Grange Development, one of the two companies leading the project.
He encouraged members of the public with specific questions to let Murray Bridge News know ahead of time if possible.
About 50 people had already booked at the time of publication.
The breakfast will be supported by the Rural City of Murray Bridge and Connolly Wilson Conveyancing.
- Have your say: Fill in the survey at www.surveymonkey.com or email engagement@ekistics.com.au before 11.59pm on September 4.
- Book tickets to the breakfast: Visit www.trybooking.com/DNZBM before 5pm this Friday, August 7. Send any questions to peri@murraybridge.news.
- More information: For the zoning changes, visit plan.sa.gov.au; for the wider development, visit www.giffordhill.com.
Disclosure: Ekistics advertised the consultation in Murray Bridge News last week.
