Warriewood, Boondah Rd: Council urged to reject 44 home townhouse estate over flood fears
Plans for a flash new townhouse estate on the northern beaches are set to be knocked back by local planning authorities because it could be hit by regular floods.
Manly
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Flooding fears have prompted planning officials to urge Northern Beaches Council to reject plans for a subdivision with more than 40 new homes.
But developers argued at a council meeting on Tuesday night that the three-storey townhouses on a former market garden site just at Warriewood would help solve a local “housing crisis”.
The council was advised that the proposed homes on the land in Boondah Rd, which is in a flood zone near the Warriewood Wetlands, could be flooded in a “Probable Maximum Flood” event.
The State Emergency Service (SES) also told the council that allowing the development would put extra demands on the SES.
In December last year, the independent Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel considered the Planning Proposal application that sought to change the Pittwater Local Environmental Plan (2014) to allow the land to be rezoned from “rural” to “medium density residential”.
The panel recommended that 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.
On Tuesday night the council was set to decide whether it should dismiss the application. The matter has been deferred to next month’s council after the meeting went over time.
In a report to the planning panel, the council wrote that there could potentially be an increased “risk to life health and property for both existing and future communities”.
The council stated that 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 council stated in its report.
It also noted that filling in a part of the flood plain for the development could direct floodwaters onto neighbouring properties.
The council told the panel that it had other concerns with the proposal including a negative effect on animal and plant species, impacts on the Wetlands and the heights of buildings.
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 proposal involves a change in zoning to allow 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 meeting that 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.
“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.”
A drawing of a dwelling which could be part of a proposed residential subdivision on Boondah Rd, Warriewood. Picture: Buchan Group
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