Ku-ring-gai Council to green-light 24,000 new homes as its high-rise development plan is approved
The north shore skyline will be transformed under a plan to allow 28-storey towers to be built around four train stations in response to the state government’s controversial planning targets.
The state government has backed Ku-ring-gai Council’s plan allowing skyscrapers to be built around train stations, dramatically changing the face of Sydney’s leafy north shore.
Apartment blocks up to 28 storeys will be allowed to tower over a number of key hubs in North Sydney as part of a compromise council rezoning scheme accepted by the NSW Government.
The plan could see more than 24,000 new homes built within 400m of Gordon, Killara, Lindfield and Roseville stations.
As part of a compromise over the contentious Transport-Orientated Development (TOD) scheme, Ku-ring-gai Council drew up an alternative option for intensive residential zoning around the four locations.
TOD was introduced by the Minns Labor Government to help meet its ambitious new housing targets by encouraging mixed-use development around 39 transport hubs across the state.
The council’s alternative plan, which was officially gazetted last Friday, means that a total of 24,728 homes could be built across the TOD sites in the Ku-ring-gai area.
NSW Planning has revealed that 21,430 homes would have been possible under the previous government TOD controls.
As part of the rezoning, it was now possible for a developer to build one 28-storey apartment block on a particular site at Gordon as well as buildings ranging between 6-24 storeys around the train station.
At Lindfield, developers could apply to build blocks up to 18 storeys. The suburb could also get a new 3000sqm park, civic plaza, library and childcare centre as a result of the council plan.
Around Roseville and Killara stations, buildings up to eight storeys were now allowed 800m from the station “so they transition smoothly between high-density and low-density, and heritage areas,” according to NSW Planning.
There would be capacity for about 9,419 new homes in Lindfield, 9,000 in Gordon, 3,300 in Roseville, and 2,800 in Killara.
Planning Department figures released in October showed that planning applications for more than 4,700 multi-storey dwellings have already been submitted by developers across the four suburbs.
The council said it created its alternative scheme, after wide-ranging community consultation that began in November last year, to better protect heritage areas in the four suburbs and save the area’s tree canopy.
In June, the council adopted its preferred plan for new housing and submitted it to the Planning Department, hoping to have it approved by the end of this year.
Mayor Christine Kay said government approval of the plan came after “detailed consideration by the department’.
“Our plan has been substantively accepted by the government and delivers certainty for the people living in those suburbs affected by the TOD,” Mayor Kay said.
“We are looking at the fine details of the approval.”
The council would further review the gazettal of its alternative plan at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully said the plan would deliver more homes that were close to jobs and services while also protecting heritage.
“Importantly the new scheme is set to deliver an additional 3330, and even more affordable, homes,” he said. “The Minns Labor Government introduced TOD to increase the supply of well-located homes in areas with existing infrastructure and this (Ku-ring-gai) scheme does exactly that.”
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Originally published as Ku-ring-gai Council to green-light 24,000 new homes as its high-rise development plan is approved
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