A Sydney Council’s push to slam the door shut on developers
THE door would be “slammed shut” to developers attempting to build major projects in a Northern Beaches Council plan to put a moratorium on boarding houses.
Manly
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- Plans for major unit complex, retail and hotel near hospital
- Northern Beaches Hospital ahead of schedule.
- 380-room nurses accomodation proposed for Frenchs Forest
THE door would be “slammed shut” to developers attempting to build major projects in a Northern Beaches Council plan to put a moratorium on boarding houses.
It follows Warringah MP Tony Abbott’s call for a halt on rezonings and major new redevelopment to stop until better infrastructure is put in place.
His calls have since been backed by Mackellar MP Jason Falisnki. Now four councillors have expressed concerns about development spiralling out of control.
Mayor Michael Regan will put forward an urgent motion at Tuesday night’s meeting calling for a review of the State Government’s planning controls — known as the State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) — which override the council’s laws.
He will seek approval of the other 14 councillors to write to Planning Minister Anthony Roberts expressing concern.
He said the area needed affordable housing “but in a form that respects local character and the amenity of the whole community and allows us to plan infrastructure to support them”.
“Specifically, there are issues around the immediate loss of amenity through lack of on-site parking required in the SEPP, concentration of units and townhouses where they were once not permitted,” he wrote in a mayoral minute.
He also raised concern that boarding houses were no longer classified as affordable after 10 years.
The anti-overdevelopment movement has the backing of Liberal councillors Rory Amon, Stuart Sprott and Dave Walton, all of whom planned to bring the issue forward at the meeting.
Councillors Amon and Sprott will push for a halt to major rezonings and a review into the SEPP. They also want Cr Regan to write to all four of the peninsula’s state MPs.
Cr Sprott said the council should “acknowledge that traffic and congestion has never been worse” in writing to the MPs and that “the council opposes a planning proposal which will worsen that congestion,” until appropriate controls and infrastructure were in place.
It follows a number of proposals for boarding houses in Wheeler Heights, Allambie Heights and Frenchs Forest.
In one instance developers hoped to rezone business park land in Frenchs Forest to make way for 840 apartments, a 15,000sq m retail space and a large hotel.
A planning proposal for 1-3 Rodborough Rd would put nine apartment blocks, including two 20-storey towers standing about 30 metres above the Northern Beaches Hospital.
And another wanted to put 380 self-contained units for nurses near the hospital.
Another in Allambie Heights for just 14 bedrooms caught the ire of locals, with more than 300 people attending a public rally a fortnight ago.
“We are dealing with planning proposal after planning proposal and I think so far we have knocked back by the way of planning proposals 2000 extra dwellings,” Cr Amon said. “That is in the space of the last few months, our population growth target over the next 20 years is 15,000.
“We are getting these developments that don’t have enough roads, schools or transport nearby and everyone is worse off. That is not what government should be about.”
He said the council needed to “slam shut” the door on overdevelopment.
Liberal councillor Dave Walton said: “Current applications for boarding houses in the Allambie Heights area are a perfect example of where one size does not fit all.
“What may work in the inner city or along main transport routes ... certainly doesn’t work in some areas of the northern beaches.”