By Megan Gorrey
An inner Sydney council is fighting a mammoth $880 million proposal to build more than 1000 apartments beside Parramatta Road, arguing the towers would overshadow houses on the opposite side of the busy thoroughfare, despite the development sitting outside the council’s boundaries.
The Inner West Council has objected to property giant Deicorp’s plan to build 1185 homes, including 219 affordable housing units, in six towers up to 31 storeys between Parramatta Road and Queens Road in Five Dock.
The City of Canada Bay council has also lodged a formal objection to the “state significant” Kings Bay Village proposal, which will be decided by the NSW government.
The proposed Kings Bay Village development will bypass the local council and be decided by the state government.
Deicorp reportedly purchased the 3.12-hectare industrial “super site” next to Rosebank College for $260 million in 2023.
It submitted plans seeking to leverage the Minns government’s 30 per cent height and floor space incentives for developers who added affordable housing units to projects for a minimum of 15 years.
The policy has triggered Sydney-wide opposition from councils and residents, who have criticised the proposals for their scale, potential traffic congestion, and time limit on affordable housing.
In the latest battle over the scheme, the Inner West Council is complaining that the suburb of Croydon, south of Parramatta Road, would be “significantly impacted” by the Kings Bay Village project, which includes units, offices, shops, a recreational facility and a public park between the future Five Dock and Burwood metro stations.
The buildings are set to transform the “super site” with apartments, shops, eateries and public spaces.
In a submission to the Planning Department, the council argued the buildings would block sunlight from single-storey homes on Lang, Dalmar and Byron streets on the mid-winter solstice, or the shortest day of the year, on June 21. The council said this was at odds with the solar access requirements in its development control plan (DCP) or the detailed planning and design guidelines that inform new developments.
The council is also pushing for the overall height of the apartment blocks to be lowered.
Deicorp said the proposed room heights of the apartments were required to allow for insulation and waterproofing measures to meet design and building standards. However, the council argued there was scope to lower the towers by reducing the floor-to-floor heights.
“[This] would still allow for the construction of habitable residential apartments while protecting the solar amenity of surrounding low-density residential developments within the Inner West Council local government area to the south,” council staff said in their submission.
There is a proposal to build more than 1100 apartments in towers up to 30 storeys along Parramatta Road in Five Dock.Credit: Wolter Peeters
The council also said the estimated 2175 residents who would eventually live in the apartment complex would “significantly increase demand for public transportation services, potentially compromising the current service levels enjoyed by the existing population”.
Canada Bay Council objected to the proposal due to concerns about the design of public spaces, stormwater connections, landscaping and traffic congestion.
Deicorp spokesman Robert Furolo said the proposal’s Parramatta Road location was “exactly where homes should be built”.
“Our project is located between two planned metro stations which will provide rapid and frequent services between the CBD and Parramatta, and will create homes that connect residents with jobs, entertainment, and recreation activities,” Furolo said.
“It’s close to the M4 Motorway, is next to a major arterial road and is well-serviced by numerous buses.”
Furolo said planning for more intensive residential development in the area began in 2015 with the Parramatta Road corridor urban transformation strategy, which had “set a clear plan for the creation of new homes within the precinct”. The congested stretch of road has long been slated for renewal.
The proposal is being assessed by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, with a decision expected later this year.
Separately, the Inner West Council has also objected to use of the affordable housing bonus to increase the size of a development proposed for the embattled Balmain Leagues Club site in Rozelle.
Last year, Planning Minister Paul Scully scrapped the threshold that meant development proposals seeking to leverage affordable housing incentives to add height and density to apartment blocks were referred to the NSW Independent Planning Commission if the local council objected.
Scully said a referral to the commission, which was formed to decide the state’s most contentious developments, could add nearly 130 days to the assessment period for a project, when many of the matters that were objected to could be resolved during the planning department’s assessment.
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