Riverbank Precinct Code Amendment
Consultation has concluded. Below is a record of the engagement.
Have your say on the proposed rezoning of the Riverbank Precinct.
What's being decided?
We are progressing infrastructure initiatives of state significance in Adelaide’s Riverbank Precinct including the development of the proposed new Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
A review is proposed to ensure the current zoning and policy is appropriate and provides the strategic framework to guide future development. It is proposed to:
- Rezone land west of the Royal Adelaide Hospital from the Adelaide Park Lands Zone to City Riverbank Zone (Health Subzone) to support the development of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
- Rezone land west of Montefiore Rd from Adelaide Park Lands Zone to City Riverbank Zone (Entertainment Subzone) and a portion of land already in City Riverbank Zone from Health Subzone to Entertainment Subzone. This will support the development of entertainment-related uses, such as an arena.
- Rezone land from the Adelaide Park Lands Zone to City Riverbank Zone (Innovation Subzone) to more appropriately reflect the land use and form of the existing Adelaide Botanic High School and its curtilage.
- Apply a new Riverbank Subzone in the Adelaide Park Lands Zone to the southern and northern side of the River Torrens between Kintore Avenue and the Torrens Weir to accommodate small-scale development such as cafes and shops (both on-water and off-water) that contributes to the activation of the riverfront, in a way that protects the open landscaped character and heritage values of Elder Park.
- Update the ‘Concept Plan 85 – City Riverbank’ within the Innovation Subzone to retain the important open space link from Frome Road to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.
- Make policy changes to support connections and linkages throughout the precinct.
- Make policy changes to support development of high quality and amenity.
Individuals, businesses, organisations and communities interested in and/or affected by the proposed Code Amendment are invited to contribute in the process of preparing and finalising the Code Amendment.
Background
The Riverbank Precinct Code Amendment is consistent with the South Australian Government’s vision for the Riverbank, delivering a world-class health, sporting, educational and biomedical precinct with strong connections to the city centre and reinforcing North Terrace as a premier cultural boulevard.
The Code Amendment seeks to improve accessibility and connections into and within the area, improve built form outcomes, consider land use needs of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and consider entertainment and complementary activities in the health/biomedical and entertainment precincts along the riverbank.
The Code Amendment seeks to rezone three areas immediately adjacent to the City Riverbank Zone - from Adelaide Park Lands Zone to the City Riverbank Zone and apply the Health Subzone, the Entertainment Subzone and the Innovation Subzone respectively.
You can read more about the background in the Engagement Plan and accompanying documents.
The Code Amendment is being led by the Chief Executive of the Attorney-General’s Department pursuant to section 73(2)(b) of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016. Community consultation will help inform final recommendations to the Minister for Planning and Local Government prior to consideration whether to approve, amend or refuse the Code Amendment.
Get involved
Read more about the affected area and the proposed changes:
- Riverbank Precinct proposed zone changes
- Riverbank Precinct proposed zones
- Riverbank Precinct proposed sub-zones
- Engagement Plan
- Riverbank Precinct Code Amendment Document (PlanSA website)
- Planning Adelaide's Riverbank Precinct (Brochure)
- Frequently asked questions
Have your say by:
- making a submission via the PlanSA form
- taking the quick poll
- sharing a comment on our guestbook
- registering for an upcoming information session
- posting your written submission to:
Attention: Code Amendment Team
Planning and Land Use Services Division
Attorney-General’s Department
GPO Box 1815
Adelaide SA 5001
- emailing a submission to: plansasubmissions@sa.gov.au.
What are the next steps?
Your feedback will help inform final recommendations to the Minister for Planning and Local Government prior to consideration whether to approve, amend or refuse the Code Amendment.
An engagement report will be published once the consultation concludes.
Dear Government
Please do not take anymore of the beautiful parklands for developing more buildings.
Once the parklands are built on we will never get back the beauty, the tourist visitors visiting, young children enjoying family time feeding the ducks or walking to the Adelaide zoo, enjoying a snack on the lawns & a ride on the Popeye.
I grew up in George Street, Thebarton and spent time playing at Bonython Park and visiting the circus, but now a huge amount of land has been taken to widen Port Road into the city, so there is no room now to have a big circus tent!
People I know from interstate love to come to Adelaide because of our beautiful parklands that surround our city, but once they are built on and gone, there will be nothing but more towers of cement & glass buildings.
Also the old Adelaide Goal & the Olive trees and room for Police horses is unique also.
Once they are gone we will never get them back.
Due to Covid-19 a lot of people are now working from home and lots of buildings that were filled with employees are empty & many will stay this way. The last thing we need is a new empty building to be built on the River Torrens.
PLEASE do not take anymore of Adelaide’s beautiful parklands.
Kind regards
Garfish
Please do not allow more permanent infrastructure to be built on the Adelaide Parklands. Use pop-up venues, food trucks and similar.
The parklands are a treasure for all people of Adelaide & SA not just for a few developers.
Hands OFF our parklands. if you allow the TRASHING of OUR PARKLANDS and building ON TOP of OUR PARKLANDS you will LOSE MASSES of VOTES.
Explore BETTER options.
IF the HISTORY TRUST REALLY CARED about HERITAGE they would mandatorily acquire the VERCO owned building on the corner of North terrace and Gawler place in Adelaide and then could show the world how to set about PROPERLY renovating it by RESPECTING HERITAGE and bringing it back to life.
It has been empty for 50 years and the owners do NOT care about heritage.
HERITAGE deserves to be RESPECTED.
The history trust and the government might claw back some respect if they ALLOWED the volunteers to remain at Ayers House and instead put their efforts into bringing that forlorn abandoned building on the corner of Gawler Place and North Terrace back to a Vibrant life.
Ayers House will NOT BENEFIT the people if you allow the History trust in to RUIN IT.
PLUS Make it MANDATORY that every NEW BUILD MUST build THREE levels below ground levels for ONLY parking UNDER all NEW buildings that are NOT on the parklands.
and BAN ALL NEW BUILDINGS from EVER being on the parklands,
We need to CLAIM BACK areas that have already been allowed to be used for OTHER than parklands.
PLUS the APPALLING DISGRACEFUL way you are treating heritage is DISGUSTING.
the INEPT History Trust showed NO RESPECT to the beautiful Edmund Wright House and will RUIN Ayers House when they take that over.
You should NOT be kicking out the wonderful volunteers from AYERS HOUSE as they RESPECT heritage and the history trust is NOT interested in what really matters to the people.
You are allowing the greedy SELFISH vociferous lazy HISTORY TRUST to RUIN too much.
And hands OFF government house and the grounds of government house - leave it alone to remain as it is for the governor. It ADDS to the CHARM of Adelaide that it is left as it is.
As is AYERS HOUSE beautiful as it is for the PEOPLE to enjoy it as it is.
the compromised FAULTY " ADVICE" that the history trust is spewing out as "advice" is NOT in the best interests of the people, NOT in the best interests of BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS that DESERVE RESPECT.
IF anything the History Trust is more about DESTROYING and TRASHING real history and replacing it with their new compromised NASTY agenda.
I support developments that are sympathetic and are within scale and context of surrounding environment...the new proposed Arena (which has been diluted from its initial multipurpose stadium ) would be a planning disaster!...
There should be sympathetic and carefully designed and planned development only on the the south bank of parklands (in place of the Arena) to create links over the rail corridor to the Uni, RAH and WCH and to North Terrace. We need to respect the cultural significance along the river and find ways to enhance these spaces for tourism and future generations. Leave the Northern side of the riverbank!
Please leave Adelaide’s precious and unique Parklands alone. They need preserving for all to enjoy, not more of them sold off for private business interests.
I strongly disagree with what is proposed and my views are reflected in Peter Goers' article in The Sunday Mail 3/10/2021. PLEASE LEAVE THE PARKLANDS ALONE.
On a related issue, I am very disappointed with the way that Adelaide and its suburbs are changing - not for the better, may I add. So many ugly, high rise apartment blocks cropping up all over the place. So many of my friends share my views. This issue could well be a sleeper at the next election. What are we becoming - a developers' paradise?
Do we really want to turn into a mirror image of Melbourne? Its landscape is atrocious.
I am passionate about preserving our parklands, the vision was to have a city surrounded by parklands and it is easy to agree to allow development and restrict the use of the parklands for personal enjoyment and sport.
Allowing any development on parklands will unjustifiably reduce our green space.
Furthermore it will put further pressure on the water quality of the River Torrens which is already overloaded with rubbish. Priority should focus on preservation and maintaining existing infra structure and ecological systems.
So that I am not labeled anti development, I am in favour of:
1) CBD Development
2) Preservation of the Riverbank and surrounding parklands
3) Development beyond the parklands green-space subject to new developments having their own green space. So often new developments have higher density of population, narrow streets with no trees and no green public space.
Leave the parklands as they are. Once the open space is built on it is gone forever. With all the abysmally small urban infill boxes and apartment dwellers we will need all the open space we can get.
I hope this community engagement is genuine and not to the standard of previous consultations. For example with the Le Cornu site the community agreed to 8 stories up from the 5 story limit
only to be told you are getting a 15 story tower coupled with 2 thirteen story towers.
In Prospect we were told if we allowed high rise on the main roads we would not need urban infill in our back streets. An obvious lie.
Look at the Seawall development in Glenelg. A 5 story zone and developers look like being allowed a 13 story monster despite strong community opposition.
Adelaide is unique in the fact that we have a huge green belt surrounding the city. Let’s keep it that way. These developers only have their own selfish interests at heart. To quote a well respected developer,author and journalist Bruce Brammall on the subject “Let me assure you, there has never been an industry less interested in your financial well being than a property developer”
In letters to the editor in the Advertiser people are constantly writing to save our open space and parklands. The only ones wanting to develop our open space are those hoping to make money out of it.
Please leave the Parklands alone. There are plenty of other spaces available. Public spaces are crucial for our mental health and well-being. Too much focus on supporting corporations around the river.
I am totally opposed to the proposed zoning changes. The riverbank area is a beautiful open space to walk/ride/relax on the grass. The parklands are a state treasure and should be protected at all costs - particularly from greed obsessed developers with no concern for the future generations of South Australians who will miss out taking they’re families for walks along the river surrounded by nature. If these buildings were built on the riverfront, the damage would be irreversible. The Torrens would just become another Hindley St, except the ugly buildings would be separated by a litter filled river instead of a litter filled street. We don’t need more takeaway food outlets on the river. We must preserve this unique feature of our city. My vote is with Colonel Light, not Colonel Sanders.
Leave the Riverbank Precinct and Parklands alone. They belong to the People of Adelaide , NOT money hungry Governments and Developers.
I am not against all parklands development (eg I thought the oval was nicely modernised and its hotel tastefully done - the monstrous RAH is and the deficient WCH will soon be a different story, however) but I am against further commercial development of parklands as we never get the green space back again. Developers can't stop, they must keep going or cease earning, so will never be satisfied even after the last blade of grass in the parklands is covered in concrete. Although this project is touted as enhancing our lifestyles I don't believe it will. Whilst it will create temporary employment and enhance developer profits (jointly the only plausible motivations) I believe the cost of any further environmental destruction of public green space far outweighs the alleged benefits. Metropolitan Adelaide is through infill fast losing its private green space. We need to ensure that Adelaide remains the liveable city it currently is and with climate change that will take a lot more effort than we currently put in to it. Proponents are forever saying the parklands are "under-utilised", which is nonsense. The parklands are utilised by life-sustaining plants and trees without which neither we nor any other beings could survive. We don't have to eat a "Maccas" on Pinky Flat to have a good time. But we do have to breathe and avoid overheating.
Leave our city surrounded by unique parklands ALONE. Greed of developers know no bounds. viz. The Waite Institute, O'Halloran Hill open space. I know there has to be development allowed for economic, safety reason etc but not our green open spaces, farmland destroyed
Please don’t take parklands away for commercial interests and ‘entertainment’. Green space is the most valuable thing we can keep as a city. I say that as someone who enjoys dining out…we have plenty of places to dine, get coffee already. Parkland rezoned is gone forever.
Public hospital is different, though it would be preferable to find an alternate spot for that too that didn’t sacrifice parklands where possible.
My understanding of the parklands is Between the Torrens and North Terrace is for public institutions, and North of the river pure parklands.
Developments on the South Bank is already dubious institutional especially the new Walker office block and further development should be heavily restricted.
There should be NO commercial developments north of the river. Once the parklands get compromised they will be gone for ever, and are the greatest feature of Adelaide.
I am totally opposed to any further development on any parklands especially the North Bank.
John Bricher
These changes are designed to benefit the wealthy property developer mates of the politicians (of both the major parties), not the people of South Australia. Adelaide is the only "city in a park" in the world, the parklands belong to everyone, leave them alone.
If any portions of the Parklands are removed for such inappropriate commercial purposes, they should be replaced by equivalent land from elsewhere of similar natural characteristics. I understand this actually when part of Parkland was usurped by tramline to Entertainment Centre. This, the total amount of green space can be kept intact and not eroded by those expecting a free land grab.
Another point is that Pinky Flat was used by Indigenous people in the early days. So surely they should be final primary say as it is their land.
Dr David Ness
I googled Adelaide Parklands and what came up is of significant relevance to the discussion on proposals to build over this place of natural heritage, appreciated by many citizens and tourists.
The expansive Adelaide Park Lands are the city’s crowning glory. Part of Colonel Light’s vision to design a city that enriched its people’s wellbeing and quality of life, the Park Lands embrace the city in a leafy figure of eight. They are the city’s lungs, backyard, playground, meeting space and more.
National Heritage
Colonel Light’s unique design created the world’s first, and only planned city in a park. The Adelaide Park Lands and City Layout is considered a masterwork of urban design and is one of the most complete examples of nineteenth-century colonial planning. These are just some of the reasons why the Adelaide Park Lands and City Layout where included on the National Heritage List in 2008, the nation’s highest heritage honour.
Park Lands management
The State Government passed the Adelaide Park Lands Act 2005 (SA) in 2005 to define the Park Lands, establish the Adelaide Park Lands Authority and ensure a management strategy.
The City of Adelaide manages approximately 80 per cent of the Park Lands, with the remaining 20 per cent (which includes the Botanic Garden and Botanic Park) managed by the South Australian Government. They are advised by the Adelaide Park Lands Authority (APLA). Learn more about the management of the Adelaide Park Lands.
A place for everyone.
The parklands are so important. We need to protect and increase green space in the city, not build over it. I do not support this amendment.
In line with the proposed SA Walking Strategy, apart from the new Children's Hospital, leave it as it was intended, a green space. Over the years we have seen the gradual taking of the green space for commercial purposes and this is just a continuance of this. Very much against any future intrusion of the minimal wildlife habitat around our city. Sure have pop ups for events in the warmer months but NOTHING permanent. Make it even more accessible for walkers and even kayakers to launch their kayaks there - keep it all recreational. It is good for our souls and the soul of the city to have nature this close and to be able to soak in the sounds and sights as we walk there. No No No to any more taking of the park lands. Sadly I anticipate the commercial interests they probably donate to all political parties will hold sway rather than the will of the people.