The ACT will consider further law changes to allow more housing on Canberra's suburban blocks, part of an effort intended to deliver more affordable homes.
Planning Minister Chris Steel will commission a design guide for missing middle housing - including duplexes, townhouses and terraces - which will be used to inform potential changes to the zoning rules, including in RZ1 areas.
The requirements for RZ1 blocks were changed as part of a planning system overhaul last year, to allow secondary dwellings on blocks 800 square metres and larger.
Mr Steel's statement of planning priorities, to be released on Friday, includes developing a guide to demonstrate how more high quality housing can be built in the capital.
"Further planning work will support potential legislative changes to enable well-designed, sustainable, and affordable missing middle options in existing residential zones including RZ1 blocks," the statement will say.
The guide will be developed in consultation with architects and the community.
"I want this design work to show in detail what forms of middle housing can fit into a typical Canberra street, down to the view from the neighbour's window, and how we can incorporate green spaces and trees on a block with two or more homes," Mr Steel said.
Missing middle housing includes townhouses, duplexes, terraces and row housing.
"This is about building more homes where people want to live," Mr Steel said.
"More missing middle housing provides opportunities for older Canberrans to age in place, and more families to find a home with a garden near established services."
Mr Steel's statement of planning priorities for 2024-25 includes the construction of more housing near shops and rapid transport connections, and work to reclassify Molonglo as a town centre.
The statement notes the outcomes-based planning system, adopted in November 2023, will need to be closely monitored.
"Improvements will need to be made as this system is embedded to ensure it achieves its intended outcomes," the statement said.
The statement of priorities also includes a focus on territory priority projects, a new mechanism that allows the government to fast track approvals for certain projects that "significantly benefit the broader community".
"In addition to providing more housing, I will seek to continue to protect and enhance our natural environment. District strategies identify the importance of environmental connections, the blue green corridor, across our city. As our city continues to grow, it is important that the interface of our urban areas with nature reserves continue to be protected," Mr Steel's statement said.
