Warriewood, Boondah Rd: Council reject 44 home townhouse estate bid over flooding fears
Plans for a flash new townhouse estate on the northern beaches have been knocked back by the council due to fears it could be smashed by regular flooding.
Manly
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Flooding fears have prompted Northern Beaches Council to reject plans for a suburban subdivision with more than 40 new homes.
But its developers argued the three-storey townhouses, on a former market garden site at Warriewood, would help solve a local “housing crisis”.
Northern Beaches Council was advised the proposed homes at Boondah Rd, in a flood zone near the Warriewood Wetlands, could be flooded in a “Probable Maximum Flood” event.
On Tuesday night the council threw out a planning proposal which would have rezoned the land to allow the development to go-ahead.
The State Emergency Service (SES) had told the council, and other planning authorities, that allowing the a subdivision on the site would stretch SES resources whenever it flooded.
In December, the independent Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel considered the planning proposal which sought a shift in planning controls to allow the land to be rezoned from “rural” to “medium density residential”.
The panel recommended the council reject the rezoning and not forward it to the NSW Planning Department for it to decide if the plans should proceed to public exhibition.
In a report to the planning panel, the council wrote there could potentially be an increased “risk to life health and property for both existing and future communities”.
The council report states the SES had raised “significant concerns in relation to flood risk”.
“The planning proposal seeks to rezone land within the flood planning area and insufficient
information has been provided to demonstrate that the proposed development will not …
place people and property at risk or in intolerable conditions in the event of a major flood,”
the report states.
It also noted filling in a part of the flood plain for the development could direct floodwaters onto neighbouring properties.
The council told the panel it had other concerns with the proposal, including a negative effect on animal and plant species, impacts on the Wetlands and the building heights.
Well-known Sydney property developers Stanley and John Roth requested the rezoning. The latest planning proposal comes after their company, Henroth Pty Ltd, has been trying for nine years for permission to redevelop the low-lying land.
The proposed zoning change would’ve allowed 40 terrace-style dwellings, as well as four other “affordable homes”, on the 2ha site.
Major earthworks would be used to raise the land above flood planning levels.
Henroth’s planning consultant Scott Barwick told the council at last month’s meeting the plans had provisions for evacuations from the estate in the event of a flood.
Daniel Maurici, Henroth’s senior development manager, said the subdivision was also an opportunity to add to housing numbers on the northern beaches.
“Northern beaches and greater Sydney are in a housing crisis,” he said. “There are not enough homes for downsizers, essential workers, our children and grandchildren.
“Our proposal will assist all of these groups. Downsizers can move into the townhouses, freeing up their larger homes for young families.”
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