Little Bay Cove, Meriton: planning proposal bypasses council, calls for NSW Planning approval

Multimillion-dollar plans by Harry Triguboff’s Meriton to carry out “a once in a generation opportunity” in Sydney’s east have taken a major turn. SEE WHAT’S PLANNED.

Property mogul Harry Triguboff’s Meriton has bypassed a council refusal on its $750 million plans for Little Bay Cove in Sydney’s eastern suburbs — instead calling for the NSW Planning Department to green-light the development.

Meriton’s Planning Proposal for close to 2000 units across a series of apartment buildings, hotel accommodation and medical centre on the massive site at 1406-1408 Anzac Pde, Little Bay, has been stuck in the NSW Planning System since 2019.

The multimillion-dollar project suffered from a series of objections from Randwick Council, which failed to indicate its support for the plans as residents hit out at the proposal, sparking a reduction in proposed building heights.

Meriton’s plans for Little Bay Cove.

The delay has resulted in a January 18 application for a rezoning review of the proposal by the NSW Government.

Meriton’s contentious plans for the site were named on the Urban Taskforce of Australia’s $26.7 billion ‘shovel-ready’ development list — submitted to the NSW Government for fast track tranche consideration in April last year at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June last year, Randwick Council voted to reject the planning proposal from proceeding to Gateway Determination, with council officers submitting a scathing list of objections to the proposal.

“The Planning Proposal fails to meet the strategic merit test,” a council planner said. “The proposal is inconsistent with the Eastern City District Plan and the Local Strategic Planning

Statement and there are no changed circumstances which warrant changes to the existing planning controls for the site.”

Council staff also raised concerns around the impact the proposal’s “intensification” of housing on a single site would have without appropriate transport infrastructure.

Early Artist impressions for the proposal.

“The Planning Proposal fails to meet the site-specific merit test due to the inconsistency of the bulk, scale and massing of the proposal with the existing and the future use of the area ... the visual impacts of the proposal on the coastal scenic character of the area (and) the lack of sufficient transport infrastructure to support the intensification of the use and the density of the development,” he said. “The Planning Proposal will worsen existing traffic congestion in the road network and will require intersection upgrades to mitigate its traffic impact.”

Meriton purchased the major landholding, made up of 12ha, for $245 million following the approval of a masterplanned development for 450 homes across a series of five-storey residential building.

But the property giants submitted a 2019 planning proposal to increase the number of buildings to 1900 in buildings up to 22 storeys.

However, a scaled back proposal was submitted in April, reducing building heights to 17 storeys.

The Meriton-owned development site at 1406-1408 Anzac Parade, (between Cawood Ave & Solarch Ave) Little Bay on Tuesday, 1 December 2020 Picture / Monique Harmer

A Meriton Planner said the site “presents a once in a generation opportunity for the renewal of existing residential zoned land”.

“The site has already been recognised as a highly suitable location for residential development and concentrated density,” the planner said.

“The Planning Proposal aims to create a diverse and resilient community through high quality public domain improvements and community infrastructure within the Precinct that will support the social needs of the current surrounding and future population, including improvements to the public domain and upgraded streets, public open space and new facilities, a child care facility, medical centre and local retail centre.”