Sydney council faces developer backlash over plan to slash parking spaces

Plans to scale back the number of parking spots in new apartment buildings along public transport routes in Sydney’s inner north are stoking tensions between the local council and developer groups.

North Sydney Council wants to reduce its on-site parking requirements for large residential, commercial and mixed-use blocks that are close to bus stops, train stations and the future Metro rail line in intensively developed parts of North Sydney, Milsons Point, Crows Nest and St Leonards.

The council argues residents and workers are well-serviced by public transport hubs at Milsons Point, North Sydney, Crows Nest and St Leonards.Credit: James Brickwood

The proposal has sparked a furious response from some councillors, residents and developers, who argue providing fewer parking spaces will inconvenience residents, push up prices for apartments with parking, clog on-street car spaces and stymie development in the central business district.

But Mayor Zoe Baker said the plan to provide fewer parking spaces would support the council’s ambitions to cut carbon emissions, ease traffic congestion and reduce residents’ reliance on cars.

“This is 21st century planning for 21st century living,” Baker said. “The best practice around the world is to not have high levels of residential parking 400 metres around transport hubs.”

Councillors will vote on whether to adopt the draft amendments to the council’s development control plan, or DCP, at a meeting on Wednesday night. The proposal attracted 351 submissions – the overwhelming majority of which were negative – when it was placed on exhibition last year.

Under the proposed guidelines, new residential blocks would be required to provide 0.4 parking spaces for every one-bedroom apartment, and 0.6 parking spaces for each two-bedroom unit – down from one space per apartment. There would also be a reduction in visitor parking in some areas.

Councillor Jilly Gibson, who intends to vote against the proposal, said the changes would make it difficult for families and elderly residents who wanted to live and stay in the area but relied on cars.

“I’m just dead against it. This is social engineering at its worst. The community have said ‘N,O’ in capital letters. We have to listen.”

The council said in a report that the changes would apply to about 15 per cent of the North Sydney local government area. They were a “sustainable, considered, and logical policy position to adopt in a highly accessible corridor that is the subject of very significant growth pressure”, the report said.

The proposal seeks to reduce on-site parking requirements for high density development close to public transport hubs. Credit: Belinda Pratten

The Property Council of Australia is urging the council to dump the policy, arguing the “ill-considered” changes would represent “the most restrictive parking controls in Greater Sydney for two- and three-bedroom dwellings”. It said any changes to parking requirements should be phased.

“The proposed ratios do not consider the high level of car parking demand within the residential and commercial property market and the impact these ratios would have on development feasibility and the provision of future housing supply,” the group said in a submission.

The council said developers and industry groups, including Urban Taskforce and the Urban Development Institute of Australia, had raised similar concerns that the “feasibility of projects may be affected if less parking is provided”.

Baker rejected suggestions that the changes would deter developers.

“A complete rebuttal of that argument is that more onerous rates apply in Crows Nest and St Leonards and there has not been any kind of handbrake on development in the past decade.”

Baker said some 6500 households in the North Sydney local government area – which is home to nearly 69,000 people – did not have a car. She said more residents were choosing to live without a private vehicle and instead opting for public transport, active transport, car share or ride-share.

“It’s not ‘no cars’, it’s just it will be a consumer choice,” Baker said.

The council said the City of Sydney guidelines allowed for 0.3 parking spaces for one-bedroom apartments, and 0.7 spaces for two-bedroom apartments. The City removed minimum parking requirements for new apartment blocks from its planning controls in 2012.

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