Edgecliff: Tower plans for New McLean St to triple vehicles at major intersection

A controversial development for Sydney’s east will see peak hour delays increased up to 70 seconds, with predictions it will triple the amount of cars using the area’s congested road network.

Artist impression of the proposed development at 8-10 New McLean St.

A controversial development for Sydney’s east will bring peak hour delays of up to 70 seconds at a key choke point, as it’s predicted to triple the amount of cars on the area’s already congested road network.

The controversial proposal, which has been strongly opposed by Woollahra Council, plans to bring an 18 storey tower with 256 dwellings to New McLean St in Edgecliff.

After facing unanimous rejection by council staff, the developer Landmark took their plans up the chain, with Eastern City Planning Panel ruling it should proceed to gateway determination.

Included in the plan is a five level basement car park with 423 parking spaces, just a stone's throw away from Edgecliff station.

A key reason for Woollahra’s council rejection was future traffic impacts, which it feared had been underestimated or glossed over by Landmark, which stated that any adverse effects on the surrounding road network would be minor.

The development includes an 18 storey tower.

According to Landmark’s traffic assessment, the development would triple the amount of vehicle movements from current numbers.

Meanwhile the adjacent intersection of New McLean St and New South Head Road would go from operating at a “C Class Level of Service” — with delays of 29 to 42 seconds — to “E Class” — categorised as “at capacity” with delays of 57 to 70 seconds.

The New McLean St and New South Head Road intersection.

For motorists, an intersection already “at capacity” means it leaves little to no buffer zone for minor disruptions including breakdowns.

However, council staff fear this scenario may be an underestimation, with the actual number of cars tipped to use the intersection being “significantly higher”.

In its feedback, council staff raised concerns Landmark was relying on an “incomplete traffic study”, by failing to consider both the impacts of the maximum potential scale of development, along with the cumulative effects from other projects.

It was also noted the study’s modelling relied on traffic projections from 2019, which could be inaccurate due to the passage of time and changes in post pandemic commuter patterns.

Woollahra mayor Sarah Swan.

Charlene Batson from the Edgecliff Residents Organisation, said the proposal was “a disaster waiting to happen”, with the intersection already a “bottleneck”.

“Anyone who uses that junction knows that includes school drops offs for Ascham, the people dropping off for supermarket and medical centres. It’s bottleneck,” she said

“That junction is a major artery through to Rose Bay, Double Bay and Vaucluse. Everyone should be aware we have an impending traffic crisis.”

Woollahra councillor Merrill Witt said increasing parking next to a train station would not encourage public transport usage, rather the opposite.

“The issue is the government wants density around transport hubs and stations, but we’re creating unmanageable traffic situations by not limiting the amount of parking there,” Cr Witt said

“There’s this idea that because people live next to a train station they won’t need cars. People are still going to hop in their cars and you can’t stop them.”

Cr Witt also said developers weren’t inclined to build without parking, as they can charge more with the sale price if it includes parking.

Similarly Woollahra Mayor Sarah Swan said a key issue was the compounding effects of what was proposed.

“The way this is rolling out is problematic. There's no way for there to be any staging as to where these buildings go up,” she said

“We've got the current traffic issues and then we've got a layer on top of that additional congestion from the planned dwellings”.

The proposal will remain on public exhibition until June 26 with submissions open.