By Megan Gorrey
Taller apartment blocks up to 28 storeys would be allowed within 800 metres of train stations on Sydney’s north shore under the local council’s proposed compromise to deliver more than 20,000 new homes while protecting heritage areas and avoiding more “extreme” building heights.
Months after Ku-ring-gai Council and the Minns government agreed to work together on alternative plans to increase density around four train stations, councillors will vote on a preferred scenario to go on exhibition at a meeting on Monday. It comes after the council took the government to court in an attempt to block plans for more intensive development in Roseville, Lindfield, Killara and Gordon.
Gordon train station will be surrounded by taller buildings under the plans. Credit: James Brickwood
The government rezoned land for higher-density development within 400 metres of the stations last May under its transport-oriented development (TOD) scheme to deliver 23,200 homes in the area.
Council papers, published on Tuesday night, said public consultation on several alternative schemes had shown the community’s preferred option was a plan dubbed “preserve, intensify and expand”.
Under a refined version of the proposal, the council would create the same capacity to deliver 24,562 homes by allowing for residential buildings up to 28 storeys within 800 metres of Gordon station, and 18 storeys around Lindfield station. Buildings around Roseville and Killara would top eight storeys. An earlier scheme had proposed buildings up to 45 storeys in Gordon over a smaller area.
Councillors will discuss the scheme and community feedback on Monday.
The council said the proposed planning controls would create the capacity to deliver 9012 new homes in Gordon, 9419 in Lindfield, 3353 in Roseville, and 2778 in Killara.
It would protect 80 per cent of heritage conservation areas (HCAs) and 69 per cent of heritage items.
The council said the preferred scenario was “characterised by protection of heritage conservation areas, moderate building heights, and extension of the development area to 800 metres from the rail station”.
“The preference for [the scheme] can be seen as an indication of the community’s willingness to trade off additional spread of development to avoid extreme building heights,” the papers said.
The council said tweaks to the scheme had involved “removal of certain areas and reductions in building height and density in other areas which, in turn, has resulted in a dwelling yield that was below the [government’s] target.
“To balance a reduction of dwellings, new areas have been added and building height and density has increased in other locations.”
If endorsed by councillors on Monday, the preferred scheme will go back on exhibition for three weeks for public feedback.
The NSW government has forged ahead with plans to encourage the construction of more apartments around 37 train stations under its TOD scheme as it attempts to meet its National Housing Accord target to deliver 377,000 well-located homes.
Ku-ring-gai councillors unanimously voted this year to pursue legal action against the government in the NSW Land and Environment Court, challenging the scheme which sought to rezone land within 400 metres of the four stations in its area to allow for taller apartment buildings.
A developer has lodged plans for a 10-storey block of 267 apartments near Roseville train station.Credit: Nick Moir
Frustrated councillors argued the state government had ignored the council’s concerns about infrastructure and green space. They voted to pursue the legal challenge while forging ahead with the preparation of alternative planning studies for the train station precincts.
The pursuit of legal action prompted Planning and Public Spaces Minister Paul Scully to accuse the council of “wasting ratepayers’ money to try to stop housing in the middle of a housing crisis”.
In a press release in December, the state government said it was helping the council to develop specific planning controls that “deliver at least equivalent dwelling capacity to the TOD program, intended to culminate in an amendment to the TOD state environmental planning policy”.
The council and department have previously said the revised planning controls for the four sites would come into effect by May. The TOD provisions will remain in place until those controls are finalised.
The state-led rezoning last May opened the floodgates for developers seeking to leverage the changes to replace old shops or freestanding homes with higher-density housing, mostly units.
Developer Hyecorp lodged a $75 million proposal for Roseville under the TOD scheme.
There are nine “state significant” development applications in Ku-ring-gai seeking to use the state government’s affordable housing incentives planning route under the TOD controls.
A department spokesman said on Tuesday that “existing [development applications] currently in the system will be assessed under the TOD planning controls”.
Among the plans to stir local opposition is developer Hyecorp’s $75 million bid to consolidate nine blocks for a 10-storey block of 267 units between Roseville Avenue and Lord Street, near the station.
Councillor Sam Ngai said on social media he understood residents had concerns about how the updated planning controls would “interact” with the development applications, singling out the Roseville plan as “the most concerning as it is clearly incompatible with the draft TOD scenario”.
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