Following is a question by the Hon Albert Ho and a reply by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (November 19):
Question:
It has been reported that, to tie in with the development of the West Kowloon Cultural District, the Town Planning Board announced amendments to the draft South West Kowloon Outline Zoning Plan ("OZP"), under which a whole lot of some 40 hectares of land will be rezoned at one go from the previous "Specific Uses" to "Other Specified Uses" annotated "Arts, Cultural, Commercial and Entertainment Uses" without restrictions on height and floor development. According to the Invitation for Proposals for the development of the Cultural District, the authorities have decided that a number of core cultural facilities will be built there. They include a theatre complex, a performance venue, a museum cluster, an art exhibition centre, a water amphitheatre and at least four piazza areas. The purposes and sizes of these facilities have already been listed in detail. The authorities expect that the facilities will start operation by phases from 2010 onwards. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the total number of submissions received since the announcement of amendments to the OZP and the number of those objecting to the rezoning; the sectors to which the opponents belong and their grounds of objection;
(b) of the criteria for determining to rezone the whole lot of the above land to "Other Specified Uses", and whether the authorities have ensured adequate planning control over the land; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether the authorities will rezone the land to "Comprehensive Development Area" in order to regulate its development parameters and density; if so, of the progress; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) of the measures in place to avoid these core cultural facilities being considered unsuitable or outdated after having come into operation, or not being welcomed by the public and local cultural organizations?
Reply:
Madam President,
As the Chief Secretary for Administration explained in his reply to Mr James Tien's question in this Council last Wednesday, the Government wishes to see the West Kowloon Cultural District developed into a world class integrated arts, cultural and entertainment area so as to enrich the cultural lives of our people and offer tourists a chance to sample the blend of Chinese and Western cultures here. Experience tell us that to break away from the conventional practice of having arts and cultural facilities operated and managed by the Government, we must draw on the commercial know-how of the private sector as well as the expertise in the cultural sector in developing the project. Also, our fiscal deficit makes it impossible for us to allocate huge funds for building new major arts and cultural facilities. It is encouraging that we have received eleven indications of interest in submitting development proposals.
The project is first and foremost a world class arts and cultural development. It will only be allowed to proceed if the proposal concerned meets our requirements and expectations in this respect. We will, however, allow an appropriate amount of commercial development to attract the private sector and approach the project as a single package to achieve a properly integrated development. In looking to obtain the most feasible and viable proposal, we have only specified in the invitation document our minimum requirements, and provided a baseline development scheme for reference. This would allow proponents as much flexibility as possible for innovative development planning. Yet, the canopy covering most of the site imposes certain limitations, whatever development is proposed. Taking all these factors into consideration, the Town Planning Board has decided to have the site zoned for "Other Specified Uses", namely, arts, cultural, commercial and entertainment uses.
Turning to the three parts of Mr Ho's question:
(a) The Town Planning Board has received 11 objections to the amended draft South West Kowloon Outline Zoning Plan (OZP). The objectors include local individuals, property developers or consultants acting on their behalf, public transport body and concern groups. They all object to the "Other Specified Uses" annotated "Arts, Cultural, Commercial and Entertainment Uses" zoning in the OZP. The objectors are mainly concerned about the lack of development controls regarding building height, development intensity and possible visual impacts and whether the "Other Specified Uses" zoning is appropriate. Other concerns include the possible adverse traffic, environmental and noise impacts that may arise from the development of the arts and cultural district.
(b) As I explained in my introductory remarks, the "Other Specified Uses" zoning is to reflect the intention of planning and developing the site in an integrated manner. I stress however that such zoning does not mean that there will be little or no planning control on what can be built on the land. Quite the contrary, in fact. When the Town Planning Board decided to zone the site for "Other Specified Uses", the Government agreed to submit the preferred development proposal to Town Planning Board members for consideration and consultation before the proposal is submitted to the Chief Executive in Council for approval to enter into the Provisional Agreement. Also, once the Chief Executive in Council has approved a development scheme for the site, the maximum permitted gross floor area and the plot ratio decided upon will be stipulated in the Provisional Agreement to be signed between the Government and the successful proponent. These parameters will then be carried forward into the Project Agreement and the land grant, which is legally binding. We will also provide in the Provisional Agreement and Project Agreement for these parameters to be included in the statutory OZP to specify the development mix and density, including gross floor area, plot ratio and height limit. If the proponent wants to amend any of these aspects of the development plan, all the statutory town planning procedures for approval by the Town Planning Board will have to be followed. Therefore, we do not intend to zone this as a "Comprehensive Development Area".
(c) Under the Invitation For Proposals, proponents are required to propose, in relation to the core arts and cultural facilities, modes of governance and operation which, among other things, will enhance the long term cultural development of Hong Kong, attract public support, provide assurance that the facilities will be run in a financially responsible and publicly accountable manner and involve participation by persons of standing in the community and experts in the relevant fields. These requirements will enable both the Government and members of the arts and cultural community to play roles in providing input to and monitoring the governance and operation of the core arts and cultural facilities, thereby ensuring that standards of operation are maintained to the satisfaction of the community.
Ends/Wednesday, November 19, 2003
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