Rule allowing ‘bonus’ heights for developers to be scrapped in southeast Sydney

A longstanding rule which allows developers to get around height restrictions in parts of southeast Sydney will be scrapped under new development controls proposed by Bayside Council.

The clause will only apply to a handful of properties, including this public housing estate on Slattery Pl in Eastlakes, under the changes.

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A longstanding rule which helps developers get around height restrictions in parts of southeast Sydney will be scrapped under new development controls proposed by Bayside Council.

The proposed change will prevent developers from being able to access a “bonus provision” to build residential blocks up to 22m (or seven storeys) in parts of the region which are zoned medium-density or high-density residential.

Height restrictions in those zones are set about half that size but developers have been able to access a subclause – to build up to 22m – for the area covering the old City of Botany Bay LGA.

A council spokesman explained “due to the impacts of some of the developments that utilised these bonus provisions” the council had been working to delete the clause.

Under a new local environmental plan (LEP) the clause will effectively be removed and only be available to a handful of properties which have already been selected by Bayside Council, mainly consisting of public housing estates.

Bayside Mayor Joe Awada.

In 2016, two councils – City of Botany Bay and Rockdale Council – were amalgamated to create Bayside Council.

Up until now, the council has been working from two sets of development controls inherited in the amalgamation, namely the Botany Bay LEP 2013 and the Rockdale LEP 2011.

The new council has now created a new local environmental plan which will set development controls for the entire region and “harmonise controls”. The draft Bayside LEP 2020 is currently open for community feedback until May 18 and includes some proposed changes to development controls.

One of the proposed changes is to delete the rule which allows developers to get around height restrictions for residential areas in suburbs such as Mascot, Eastlakes, Pagewood, Botany and Eastgardens, included in the Botany Bay LEP 2013.

The longstanding clause stated for properties larger than 2000 sqm in medium-density and high-density residential zones “the height of a building on that land may exceed the maximum height shown for the land on the height of buildings map but must not exceed 22 metres”.

The rule has been left out of the new controls in the Bayside LEP 2020 and replaced by a handful of properties labelled “area 14” which can still access that bonus provision to build up to 22m.

The area 14 properties pictured at Mascot.

The area 14 properties pictured at Eastlakes.

Those seven properties are mainly public housing estates and include properties on Middlemiss St and Macintosh St in Mascot, Maloney St, Slattery Pl and Florence Ave in Eastlakes, Banks Ave in Pagewood and Bay St in Botany.

“Some landowners – mapped ‘area 14’ in the draft Bayside LEP – were able to demonstrate to council their ability to develop their sites utilising the bonus provisions without unreasonably impacting adjoining land owners and that the bonus provisions should be retained for these sites,” the council spokesman said.