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URA amends plans for Dairy Farm site

Height restriction among moves to limit damage to environment from new development, following concerns raised by residents

Published on Jun 10, 2012

By Feng Zengkun


The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday announced several changes to the building plans for a controversial site sale in the Upper Bukit Timah area.

In response to residents nearby who want the sale stopped to preserve the forest on it, the URA said it would limit the property development's damage to the environment.

Its measures include removing a planned road that would have cut into a canal-side jogging trail popular with residents.

The housing blocks on the site will be limited to 15 storeys, and a proposed commercial property next to the site will also be relocated elsewhere, it said.

The announcements were made yesterday at a dialogue with about 200 residents, held at the Senja-Cashew Community Centre.

The Member of Parliament for the area, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan, attended the dialogue. Also present was was a representative from the Land Transport Authority.

The 1.86ha site along Dairy Farm Road, about the size of four football fields, borders the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and is slated for residential development.

Residents said that besides the environmental harm, towering condominiums on the site would change the atmosphere of the mostly low-rise neighbourhood.

Two nearby plots of land on the reserve's fringe already have 24-storey condominium blocks being built.

The dialogue lasted two and a half hours and drew many impassioned pleas from the residents for the Government to reconsider the sale of the site, which will be put on the market later this month.

They also asked the Government to consider building the homes elsewhere on cleared land, for example on disused industrial estates.

If this could not be done, the residents also presented an alternate plan for the area drawn up by well-known architect Tay Kheng Soon, who designed the low-rise Dairy Farm Estate next to the site.

His plan included five- and 10-storey housing blocks with generous gardens, surrounded by green borders.

'The concrete wall of the nearby canal should also be removed and the canal developed into a water park, like in Bishan Park,' he said in his plan.

In his closing remarks at the session, Dr Balakrishnan said the Government had struck a balance between preserving the country's natural heritage and advancing its progress.

He added that plans for the site development had been in place for decades.

Asked after the session whether the Government was concerned the saga would cause residents elsewhere to speak up against development plans, Dr Balakrishnan said he viewed it as a positive example for the way forward.

'Plans are shared in advance, views are heard, and constructive suggestions are made and incorporated into the plans,' he said. 'You can't get everything you want, but you can make it better. Conversation is beneficial.'

The minister later said on his Facebook page: 'We will form a local group to continue generating ideas to guide the developments in this precious area in the years ahead.'

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