Frenchs Forest zoning: High school to be rezoned for units as part new town centre around hospital
UP TO 900 students would be moved and a brand new school built under a plan to rezone Frenchs Forest High School and make way for a town centre around the new hospital.
Manly
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- Hospital precinct plans delayed again as government departments argue
- Hospital protest goes viral
- Residents warned land rezoning is still ‘years away’
- Calls for 10 per cent of land around hospital to be affordable housing
UP TO 900 students would be moved and a brand new school built under a plan to rezone Frenchs Forest High School and make way for a town centre around the new hospital.
With a rezoning announcement imminent, the State Government appears set to get the majority of the windfall from up-zoning areas directly around the incoming Northern Beaches Hospital — including the school and sporting oval up to medium density.
It is understood these buildings could go up to nine-storeys and would include a mix of retail, residential and commercial spaces.
Meanwhile, landowners who have endured two years of waiting could be left in the dark, with the Manly Daily able to reveal that anything south of Warringah Rd will likely not be up-zoned.
Northern Beaches Council has been tasked with pulling together the draft precinct structure plan which has stalled several times due to squabbling among government departments.
General manager Mark Ferguson said the plan would go to a meeting of council next month.
“There has been several meetings between government agencies and (the) council and we are confident we are going to get a report by the end of November,” he said.
Former Warringah Mayor Michael Regan has warned long-suffering neighbours of the hospital, to “prepare to be disappointed”.
He said the failure to provide an east to west bus rapid transit system, meant targets of 10,000 new dwellings had been significantly decreased. It is believed the number of new dwellings will be between 1000 and 2000, zoned the immediate vicinity around the hospital.
However, Wakehurst state Liberal MP Brad Hazzard said the proposed rezoning of the school and potential sale of the site was a positive.
“I have a rock solid guarantee that the Education Department would find a new site and deliver a new school before any students are moved,” Mr Hazzard said.
In a letter sent to Mr Hazzard, Education Minister Adrian Piccoli wrote: “I note your concerns that the Department of Education and Northern Beaches Council have discussed (the) council’s proposal to rezone the current Forest High School site for a new town centre.
“I understand your concerns relate specifically to the need to ensure Forest High School continues to exist, either on its current site, or on a new site within a relatively short distance.”
Mr Piccoli gave an undertaking that the “community can rest assured that the school will continue to exist on the current site, irrespective of any zoning, unless and until a new school is constructed”.
Mr Hazzard said he first raised concerns when he became aware of the school’s rezoning.
“As the local MP when I became aware of that, I was concerned to make sure that we have a continuing forever Forest High School,” he said.
“Anything else was not acceptable.”
It could eventually mean a new state-of-the-art school for the Frenchs Forest area.
“This is an opportunity to get new school, 21st century school buildings in a location which is within a relatively short distance of the current site. It is a win-win,” Mr Hazzard said.
A spokesman for the Education Department said: “There is no educational need for the Forest High School to be relocated or for the site to be rezoned.
But he said the department “would consider its options” if the school was rezoned.
Mr Regan said he feared the worst for residents — many of whom had taken out options on their homes, and have put up with parts of their backyards being taken over by road workers.
“I have previously supported compensation for those on the south side who were directly affected,” he said “I think the residents have a right to feel aggrieved that the departments have taken so long to agree to whatever it is they are now doing.”
But it remains unclear whether or not their land will be rezoned at all.
When asked if he would push back on the government to help long-suffering residents, Council administrator Dick Persson said: “I am not pushing for anything and it would be inappropriate to do so”.
“Planning staff will produce what they think and if I have a different view, I will make that known at an appropriate time,” he said.
Tim Pace made a YouTube video detailing the everyday life of people in Karingal Cres, just 40m away from Warringah Rd.
Warringah Rd is undergoing widening, and the RMS has encroached on Mr Pace’s backyard for months.
“There is a lot of excavation, a heap of disruption and noise, I work form home so it is hard. There is lots of dust our houses are pretty much covered in dust,” he said.
“We have got visual pollution in terms of lack of privacy, our fence is reduced and the trees are gone, anyone can look straight into our backyard,” he said,
Mr Pace said it would be “disappointing” if their land wasn’t rezoned, but said he would welcome the release of the structure plan so he could “at least know sooner rather than later what the future holds and act accordingly”.
While he felt residents had the right to be upset, he acknowledged that “nobody ever promised it was going to be rezoned”.
“I suppose, nobody can help but think there was going to be something they had a study area a precinct area, everyone would think that would potentially be rezoned.”
Transport for NSW was queried over its role in the delay. In response a spokesman said: “As part of our planning we will continue our work with key stakeholders to investigate the possibility of more services on the east-west route.
“The northern beaches B-Line Project was designed to focus on the north-south route between Mona Vale and the Sydney CBD.”
Mr Hazzard said he had not seen the most recent plans for Frenchs Forest but stressed that the school and any residents whose houses were rezoned did not have to sell, or move.
“If it is a town centre zoning my guess is that it would indicate higher density which would give homeowners the choice to sell for a much greater price or choose to live there and not do anything,” he said.
“Similarly with the school they have existing usage rights.”
THE STORY SO FAR
September 2014: Project launched with flyers
November 2014: Warringah Council holds community workshops looking at the future land use
April 2015: Draft hospital precinct structure plan expected
June 2015: Council works with govt to address transport and road infrastructure
July 2015: More detailed transport assessment needed
January 2016: Govt asks for further detailed evaluation of scenarios
March 2016: Council resumes draft precinct structure plan after transport study approved
April 2016: Draft plan being finalised and due in May/June 2016
July 2016: Five govt agencies ask for the plan
September 2016: Report to Northern Beaches Council delayed again, with no future time frame.
November 2016: Council plans to release plans.
SPECIAL FEATURE: How did we get here?
IT all fell apart when the State Government refused to create an east-west rapid bus system from Chatswood to Dee Why.
The route was mooted by the then-opposition in 2010, and it was heavily backed by local councils.
A BRT pre-feasibility study released by the State Government in 2012, and championed by then backbencher Mike Baird, gave it a price tag of $77 million.
A BRT meant Frenchs Forest was set to be booming with 10,000 new dwellings, a transport hub and $500,000 worth of roads around a state-of-the-art hospital.
Council officers had a brand new town centre with direct links to Chatswood in sight.
But in April 2015, seven months after Warringah Council announced it was looking at rezoning within a 1km radius around the Northern Beaches Hospital, it hit the first of many hurdles.
It was around that time the council was told there would be no rapid bus transport to and from Frenchs Forest. Rather, transport would increase bus services “as demand grows”, it told the Manly Daily in July 2015.
That led then-Warringah mayor Michael Regan to dig in his heels. He attempted to hold the State Government to ransom in May.
He refused to start the rezoning process in streets around the planned Northern Beaches Hospital until the State Government committed to a rapid bus system between Chatswood and Dee Why.
“The community was clear they only supported increased density, providing it came with the necessary public transport infrastructure,” Mr Regan said.
“Once the department of transport pulled the pin on the east to west BRT, it significantly reduced the opportunities that the department of planning wanted.”
The east-west dream was scrapped in July 2015, but was previously touted by Mr Baird as a follow-on to the north-south route.
A spokesman for Mr Baird yesterday said an east-west BRT was never promised.
“The Dee Why to Chatswood corridor is not a part of the B-Line route and to suggest otherwise would be incorrect,” he said.
The BRT was shut down and a more detailed transport and roads analysis was ordered — from there it snowballed.
Without a reliable public transport option, the Roads and Maritime Service feared the $500,000 road network it was building would no longer cope with the planned 10,000 dwellings.
It went site-by-site according to sources close to the situation, analysing every street and road in Frenchs Forest.
The RMS analysis led to a new strategy which meant the 10,000 new dwellings were reduced to between 1000 and 2000.
While the behind-closed-door politicking takes place, nearby residents have been waiting, some with dollar signs in their eyes, for two years.
But as the well-overdue deadline again draws near, it appears there could be a lot of disappointment for a lot of residents.
In May, it appeared the end was almost in sight for residents — many of whom have put up with constant disruptions to their lifestyles with hope of light at the end of the tunnel.
The draft structure plan was set to be released by Warringah Council in May when the final, and most shambolic, hiccup occurred.
Previously, the council had been dealing with four government departments — Planning, Health, Roads and Transport.
But just a week before Local Government amalgamations in May, it was revealed that the Education Department had entered the fray. At the time, it was reported it was one of five departments wanting to see plans before they were put on public exhibition.
The council had planned to rezone Forest High School for medium density along with streets directly surrounding the hospital.
The Manly Daily can now reveal that department staff had planned to sell the rezoned land but had no alternative site for a new school.
“At this point (Planning Minister) Rob Stokes and (Wakehurst MP) Brad Hazzard intervened,” a source close to the decision-making process said.
Another source said: “It was effectively being held up because Education were staying out of it. They needed to find an alternative site for the school. When the public finally gets to look at the plans, it is pretty obvious you can’t do that active rezoning without looking at the (school) site.
“The first thing people will say when the council comes out with the rezoning, is that frankly it’s obvious why they weren’t happy to sign off on the rezoning.
“There has been a pretty good reason as to why the whole thing has been held up.”
It is believed the Education Department has narrowed down a potential school site to two locations in Frenchs Forest.
Mr Stokes declined to comment on the specifics of the plan, but said it was about getting the balance of infrastructure right
“There is a great opportunity to provide a new town centre around the new Northern Beaches Hospital and our concern is to ensure that all the infrastructure needs of the growing community are identified and provided for as part of the planning,” he said.
It is now more than two years since initial workshops started to shape the future of Frenchs Forest. And locals have been “left in the twilight zone” according to Mr Hazzard. He has vocally tried to get the five government departments to see eye-to-eye on a decision, after several stalls.
He said he was not aware of specific details of the rezoning, but “when I became aware of (the potential sale of a school without replacement), I was concerned to make sure that we have a continuing-forever Forest High School,” he said. “Anything else was not acceptable.”
The council’s general manager Mark Ferguson has promised to have the plans before administrator Dick Persson by the end of November.
At the very least, the local residents will know what their future holds — but it may not be as prosperous as some had hoped.
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