Pagewood Green: Randwick Council in plan to stop Meriton project

A council has announced its intention to stop Meriton in its tracks as the developer looks to expand Pagewood Green.

UPDATE

Randwick Council has voted to try and halt Meriton's huge  Pagewood Green development – which is being built over its back fence in Eastgardens.

The development is Meriton’s biggest ever project and is already the size of a small suburb.

It will expand to include over 4000 apartments in high-rise towers when completed, next to Westfield Eastgardens, with almost half of those apartments already built. The site is within the Bayside Council boundary but is just metres away from the neighbouring Randwick Council area.

The site is within the Bayside Council boundary but is just metres away from the neighbouring Randwick Council area.

The two councils are separated by Bunnerong Rd which runs alongside the development.Randwick Council voted on Tuesday to commission a study around the impacts – including traffic – of the development on the Randwick Council area.

Councillors also voted to write to Bayside Council and the State Government urging a halt to the project “until the infrastructure and capacity issues are assessed and then addressed”.

Pagewood Green latest Meriton plans

Randwick Mayor Danny Said stated the project would have a huge impact on those living within the Randwick LGA.

“The excessive heights, the excessive build, will severely impact our LGA,” he said during the council meeting.

He said, for example, public buses will be overrun with people from Pagewood Green and impact people trying to use those services in the Randwick Council LGA.

“If there are 5000 extra people at Pagewood Green then those buses will be an absolute nightmare.”Resident Maria Poulos, who lives opposite the development on the Randwick Council side of Bunnerong Rd, added residents living nearby “face a future perfect storm of congestion”.

Meriton has said the current proposal is fitting for the environment.

“Importantly, the proposal has been informed by an analysis of site constraints and opportunities to provide a realistic indication of development potential. The proposal will ensure that development of the site can contribute to the local housing supply whilst providing an urban design response that is appropriate to the emerging context of the locality and responsive to sensitive adjoining land uses.”

EARLIER

February 8, 2021

NEXT STAGE OF PAGEWOOD GREEN REVEALED

A $114 million plan for the construction of two 16 and 17-storey skyscrapers in Eastgardens has been revealed.

The proposal would include 383 apartments, shop-top housing and recreational facilities at 128 Bunnerong Rd.

Developers Meriton Property Services submitted the plans to Bayside Council in December 2020 as the second stage of the proponent’s massive Pagewood Green project for the redevelopment of former industrial land for a mix of residential, retail and childcare.

A total of 244 one, 110 two and 29 three-bedroom apartments are proposed in the latest plans, which are currently before the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel, as well as 525sq m non-residential floorspace.

“The proposal includes recreational facilities for use by residents which includes a communal garden at podium roof level allowing for passive recreation and social interaction,” a Meriton Planner said.

“The space provides an attractive and welcoming lawn area together with facilities including BBQs and planted garden beds.

“Communal amenity space in the form of a gym and sauna are also provided within the development.”

Plans show what Pagewood Green will look like when finished

Stage one of the residential community is largely built and will feature 2,223 units in several blocks, while stage two is proposed to be delivered in nine stages and feature more than 2,300 units and townhouses.

A planner for the development said the plans will not result in any unreasonable traffic or amenity impacts, “while the social and economic benefits to be gained from the proposal are significant”.

In 2016, Meriton’s Harry Triguboff launched the sale of the $3 billion masterplanned residential development, touted as the biggest project in the developer’s history.

“The masterplanned mixed-use development, neighbouring Westfield Eastgardens will evolve on a former British American Tobacco and Holden site and will include more than 3000 apartments over ten years,” a Meriton spokesman said at the time.

The Pagewood Green project has largely been unpopular with the community — being branded an overdevelopment of the site which does not have the necessary infrastructure surrounding it.

Then Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison is welcomed by Harry Triguboff at the opening of one section of Pagewood Green. Picture: John Appleyard

Commenting on the latest proposal, a Bayside Council spokesman said: “The NSW State Government imposes housing targets on each Local Government Area and approves all large scale developments.

“Expansive developments like Pagewood Green were seen by government as the answer to a housing shortage in locations convenient to the Sydney CBD, airport and port.

“Council on behalf of its community is now calling on the government to focus on infrastructure such as schools, transport, hospitals and open space, necessary to protect the amenity of existing communities and those people moving into developments like Pagewood Green.”

There has been criticism of the size, scale and look of the development.