Residents raise Belconnen tower concerns

Belconnen residents are raising concerns over plans to build Canberra's tallest residential building.

Geocon is proposing to build a 35-storey tower on the corner of Eastern Valley Way and Aikman Drive in Belconnen, comprising of residential apartments and a hotel.

Height restrictions are only in place in Canberra's CBD, where buildings cannot be higher than the top of the flag pole on City Hill and Parliament House.

More than 100 people met last night to discuss the plans.

Robyn Coghlan from the Belconnen Community Council says the building would be almost 10 stories higher than the tallest building currently in the area.

"Such a tall building you can imagine will cast a very long shadow on winter days," she said.

"In particular it's going to overshadow the childcare centre in the CISAC complex and it will put their outdoor playground into shadow during a winter afternoon."

Economic Development Minister Andrew Barr has been quizzed by a Legislative Assembly committee about the lack of height restrictions for new developments in Belconnen.

He says height restrictions were removed in other town centres to encourage investment.

"Certainly it would give those centres a competitive advantage over the CBD. It might in a way level the playing field a little," he said.

"As anyone would observe, looking at the distribution of employment and investment in the city, that there is a bias at the federal level in particular for investment in the Parliamentary Triangle and the CBD."

Source: ABC News, 20 February 2013