Castle Hill: Developers plans for 185 apartment and terrace estate for endangered Rogans Hill forest land revealed

A proposal to build 185 new homes in an endangered Blue Gum forest has thrown the future of a leafy northwest Sydney community in the air.

The fate of a tree-lined pocket of northwest Sydney hangs in the balance after a property developer proposed transforming the green space at Castle Hill into a “biophilic community” of 185 homes.

Developer Castle Hill Glen Pty Ltd submitted a planning proposal to the Hills Shire Council requesting to rezone the land at Rogans Hill Reserve at 2 Glen Road, Castle Hill – near Cherrybrook Station – to deliver 147 apartments and 38 terrace townhouses to the community.

A tree-lined pocket of northwest Sydney could be transformed into 185 apartments and townhouses. Picture: Supplied.

The small Rogans Hill community in Melia Court could get about 430 new neighbours of the development is approved. Picture: Supplied.

The site, which will be known as 1020 Melia Court, will include six, three to six storey residential apartment buildings – with one to three-bedroom dwellings – and five rows of terraces between two and three storeys.

Developers have committed 15 per cent of the residential floor area on the site to affordable rental housing within walking distance of Cherrybrook and Castle Hill Metro stations.

“The vision of the planning proposal is to create an authentic park side and forest living experience where a strong connection to nature, health and wellbeing sets a precedent for a biophilic community in The Hill Shire,” proposal documents read.

The townhouses will be two to three storeys high. Picture: DKO Architects

The plan also proposes basement parking, new roads, public works and a new 2000 sqm public park to provide “natural play area and outdoor fitness activities” for the community.

“Rogans Hill Park will become a place of enhanced wellbeing where natural systems are rehabilitated and celebrated, a place where communities connect and where people have access to state of the art open green space, tree lined streetscapes and nature at your doorstep.”

Developers also propose planting 389 trees and preservation works to protect the 1.5 hectares of critically endangered Sydney Blue-Gum High Forest book-ending the residential area into perpetuity.

The new Rogans Hill Park will have space for play and recreation for the local community and residents. Picture: DKO Architects

The site also includes footpaths and boardwalks in public space throughout the land. Picture: DKO Architects

There is an existing development approval to build a 23-lot subdivision of large homes, “which only included a publicly accessible road with no public benefits”.

That proposed subdivision was refused by the Hills Shire Council in 2007 but successfully appealed in the Land and Environment Court in 2011.

Castle Hill Glen’s planning proposal comes as Castle Hill faces a development boom, and major developers push to transform the formerly semirural suburb into Sydney’s fourth-largest CBD.