Middle Harbour Rd, Lindfield: Residents object to $78m, nine-storey apartment plans
Locals have criticised a developer’s plan for a $78m apartment project in a north shore suburb, calling it opportunistic and disruptive to the community.
A developer’s hope to build a nine-storey residential building in an upper North Shore suburb has been slammed by locals, with one resident saying it’s “opportunistic”.
Developer Castle Hill No 7 have lodged an application with the state’s planning portal to build a nine-storey residential building at 11-19 Middle Harbour Rd, Lindfield.
An environmental-impact statement outlines the plan to demolish existing residential homes and construct a building for 173 apartments.
At least 28 of these apartments will be set aside for affordable housing and will be managed by a Community Housing Provider.
The project is estimated to cost $78.7m, with the plans stating the apartments will be a mixture of one to three bedrooms.
Prior to the public exhibition of the project, locals had raised concerns to the developer in a webinar meeting.
These concerns included the proposed scale being “inconsistent with existing streetscape” and that there would be “substantial disruptions to surrounding properties with regard to noise, vibration, dust and traffic during construction”.
During the public exhibition period, 26 of the 28 submissions objected to the proposal, with one submission calling the earlier webinar nothing more than a “cynical charade”.
“The webinar was short and uninformative,” the unnamed resident stated.
“The consultancy engaged to conduct the consultation began this session approximately ten minutes late, blaming technical issues.
“This proposal should fail on the basis that the applicant failed to provide adequate early consultation. This was more abuse of process than consultation.”
Another resident expressed how “deeply concerned” they are about the proposal and the area’s future.
“I am witnessing a particularly opportunistic and voracious property developer systematically carving up our heritage suburb, deploying poorly planned project solutions with little architectural merit, leading to cheaply constructed and generic mass apartment building designs with very profitable outcomes due to the outrageous 30 per cent uplift provisions placed on these projects,” they said.
One local Eric Song pointed out how the area is already struggling with a strain on local infrastructure.
“Existing public amenities, including parking, public transport capacity, and community facilities, are already limited. The proposed development would place further strain on these services without adequate investment in infrastructure upgrades,” he wrote.
One local supporter of the plans said: “I support this proposal as it is close to public transportation and shops. We need more housing supply as we are in a housing crisis.”
