AFP site to become Fetherson Weston after development application success

The Village Building Company's development application, for what is now being called Fetherston Weston, was accepted in March subject to conditions resulting from entity advice.

This comes after an initial attempt at a development application on the block was denied in 2021 following community and government backlash.

The new development approval has a bigger variety of dwellings and building types. The previously proposed plan included 260 dwellings, but the inclusion of apartments on the site has raised the overall total to 337.

The area will include 26 buildings, including a mix of three-storey apartments and two-to-three storey townhouses. Basement parking will be spread over the site as well as parks, pathways and treed driveways.

The revised plan takes up less than a third of the site, leaving a larger amount of usable green space as a result of the apartments.

The initial plan comprised 126 single dwelling blocks, infilled with seven banks of blocks consisting of 13 to 17 townhouses.

The Village Building Company chief executive Vince Whiteside said the company had worked hard to address the original concerns of the community.

"Our team is committed to ensuring that every aspect of the development is carefully considered and expertly executed, to create high-quality and sustainable living environments that meet the needs of both current and future residents," he said.

"We believe that the development will be a significant asset to the local area, providing a range of high-quality residential options surrounded by beautiful park lands and natural features.

"We are committed to ensuring the development reflects the character and charm of the surrounding suburb, and that it contributes positively to the local community."

Other key features of the new development include inclusion of solar panels, retention of a greater number of trees as well as an additional 400 to be planted on the site, more communal open space parkland, and improved pedestrian connectivity through a proposed internal path network.

The Village Building Company said they were working on detailed planning and design stages required to deliver the project.

Chair of the Weston Creek Community Council Bill Gemmell, who was initially opposed to the development in 2021 as their interim chairman, said he is now content with it, and is looking forward to building getting underway.

"They are well designed this time, and they engaged with the community really well. We had seen the plans and everything," he said.

"It will fill a valuable void in the area ... it was certainly a long time coming too."

He said some of the changes made to the site were "very impressive", and he particularly appreciated the convenience for public transport.

"It's located right on a rapid bus route, the R7 bus goes past in both directions, and there's a bus on the other side that goes to Woden," he said.

"The only thing I would like to see is more mixed-use developments. All it is missing is a coffee shop."

Mr Gemmell said there was a large portion of the Weston community who wished to stay in the suburb but wanted to downsize, which this development would be perfect for.

"This will absolutely appeal to those people wanting to stay local but live that different lifestyle out of established family homes," he said.

"On the other side of that, as people move out, younger families can also move in."

The Village Building Company bought the site in 2017 for over $30 million, after NEB Holdings on-sold it.

Before then, it served as the Australian Federal Police Training College from 1980 to 2016.