Uni Tasmania announces community engagements on its move into the city and plans for the Sandy Bay campus – again

Management wants to develop Sandy Bay, presumably to fund the relocation of half its staff and students to the CBD. But both have long been unpopular with people who are not impressed with VC Rufus Black proposal for a “sustainable community with a mixture of housing, including attainable housing, education, aged care, commercial and retail spaces, and associated infrastructure,”  at Sandy Bay (CMM July 22 2021).

And now the university says an 80 member community panel will be in place until year end. It follows a Supreme Court case on rezoning the existing campus plus two rounds of consultations on the Sandy Bay masterplan in July-August and October 2021 (CMM March 9 2021) and a big pitch for the CBD move, including the university agreeing to pay rates  on city sites (November 8 and December 20 2019).

However  in May a public meeting called on Hobart’s city council not to support the plan and councillors called on the university to consult more.

Which is what it will now do. Vice Chancellor Rufus Black made the case for process and plans both on ABC Radio in Hobart yesterday, adding. “This next round of consultation we are doing is actually part of what has been quite a long journey … but it really matters to keep hearing from people in Hobart.”