Upwards and inwards: Council's Mark Hodges encourages Orange residents to consider infill development

OCC director of development Mark Hodges and manager of water treatment Jon Francis took about 70 people through some of the major issues of the LHS in the second of two forums held to encourage submissions on the draft document.

As expected, water security was hot topic, as was the affordability of housing and the length of time before land was made available for development.

The encouragement of infill development was also raised.

When discussing infill, Mr Hodges recalled his arrival in Orange 17 years when there was little or no development past the water tower in north Orange. The comparison now has housing well past the Northern Distributor Road and enveloping Waratah sportsground in the north while Orange has also expanded considerably to the west.

"Can we really expect Orange to [continue] to sprawl like that, and the answer is no," Mr Hodges told the forum.

"Not everyone wants a 700m2 block and wants to be that far away from the CBD."

Mr Hodges explained infill is a factor of the draft LHS, which is designed to identify Orange's land stocks towards 2050, and used the MAAS Group's development of the old base hospital land as an example. It will include a multiple-storey building which will contain around 60 apartments.

"Yes, we will start to go up in some areas of town," he said adding Kurim Avenue and Telopea Way would also house similar projects.

"The city has to accept we are going to change the style of housing."

A number of residents raised concerns about land near their homes having been identified for future housing and its impact on their lifestyle while questions on housing affordability, the speeding up of the development application process, the availability of parking and water security were also discussed.

Mr Hodges also explained there was land that was not suitable for housing, for reasons such as water catchment, a more than 15 degrees slope or was too far from existing infrastructure.

Mr Francis also spoke on the LHS modelling, which suggest water is secured for projected population growth to 50,000.

This is based on the secure yield figure of 7268 megalitres a year which Orange's existing infrastructure can provide.

Growth between 50 and 60 thousand people will be serviced by the addition of stage 2 of the Blackman's Swamp storm water harvesting, which is still in the planning stages.

"It does highlight, as the future plans all highlight, there is a need to continue the work we've done into sustainable yield for future-proofing Orange for water, it doesn't mean we won't be exposed to droughts again," Mr Hodges said adding Orange residents will always have water restrictions.

Mr Hodges said at the moment, Orange averages about 244 new houses a year so over the next 20 years it is expected to grow by 6000 houses.

People keen to make a submission on the LHS were also guided through the process.

Submissions close at 5pm on February 21.

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