News - Community & business

On Monday 20 July 2009 a public information drop in session will be held regarding the proposed direct sale of Block 17 Section 73 Nicholls to the Canberra Muslim Community (CMC) for the development of a place of worship.

This public information drop in session is being held jointly between the CMC and the Land Development Agency.

Location: Palmerston Community Centre, Tiptree Cres, Palmerston (adjacent to the Palmerston shops)
Date: Monday 20th July 2009
Time: 3pm - 7pm
For further information please contact Kerry Browning in (02) 6205 0600.

Further background information:

The land in question has always been zoned for Community Facilities. Various proposals for the Nicholls land have come and gone over several years, and GCC reps (back when Barry Dee was president) met with CMC and Bob McMullan back around 2003 to discuss the idea of a second place of worship for those of Islamic faith in Canberra. (There is already one at Yarralumla that exists without issue for surrounding residents.) The GCC executive of the day resolved to support CMC’s proposal.

Alan Kerlin, GCC president, meet with two CMC reps to discuss their plans and hopes for the site in December 2007. They were very concerned that their proposal could lead to the same sorts of ill-informed and unfounded backlash that was at that time occurring in Sydney. They discussed the need for them to be proactive in getting the facts of their proposal out to Nicholls residents. CMC explained their intention to create a whole-of-community facility that would have halls available for any community groups, the only restriction being no alcohol on site.

Alan also discussed the architectural design aspects, and suggested that the community may be more accepting of the centre if the buildings could be designed as something symbolic of the Islamic faith integrated within the Australian community. This would be in contrast to something that was merely a transplant/mimic of the minaret-clad ancient mosques of the Middle East. The president of the CMC said he found the idea excited and stirred him. The GCC hasn't seen their designs, but understands that it did follow this idea.

In the meantime, the issue of the traffic problems around the Nicholls shops has blown up, with Roads ACT proposing a solution that most people felt would not solve the problems. But it did do a brilliant job (together with a lot of effort from Alistair Coe at getting people interested in the issue. The Nicholls community centre was jam packed at a meeting a few weeks ago about the traffic, and Roads ACT came away with the understanding that their solution would have to also accommodate the likely traffic generated by the use on the vacant block also.

When the CMC proposal is notified as a Development Application, GCC will be looking closely at the traffic aspects in particular. But GCC supports the underlying proposal, which is in keeping with the intent of the land zone, and therefore aligns with the sort of use the surrounding residents should have expected to be built there.