ITEM 3.2 REDFERN WATERLOO
AUTHORITY – BUILT ENVIRONMENT PLAN – MINUTE BY THE LORD MAYOR TO COUNCIL 27
February 2006
On 9 February 2006, the Redfern Waterloo Authority (RWA)
placed Stage One of its Built Environment Plan on public exhibition. The draft
Plan is the final component of the Authority’s Redfern Waterloo Plan, with the
other components being the Human Services Plan and the Employment and
Enterprise Plan. The NSW Department of Planning subsequently placed Draft State
Environmental Planning Policy (Major Projects) Amendment (Redfern-Waterloo)
Policy 2006 on public exhibition.
The public exhibition period for both the draft Built
Environment Plan and the SEPP ends on 14 April 2006, and the RWA will hold a
public forum on the plans from 1.00pm next Saturday 4 March at Redfern Town
Hall, 73 Pitt Street.
I support in principle the stated aims of the draft Built
Environment Plan, which promises “a strategic planning framework to facilitate
the area’s economic growth”. However, I am very concerned that the proposals
are very similar to the 2003 RED Strategy of the Redfern Waterloo Partnership
Project, which was widely condemned for promoting profit-driven development
without supporting infrastructure and expanding community facilities.
The Plan proposes a new Redfern Town Centre based on
redevelopment of the Railway Station, but does not provide clear strategies to
achieve this. Similarly, strategies for public domain, infrastructure,
heritage, transport and utility services lack detailed information,
particularly about implementation.
The primary focus of the Plan is planning controls for the
eight state significant sites in the RWA area. These are the North and South
Eveleigh railway lands, the Australian
Technology Park,
the Eveleigh Street Precinct (including “The Block”), the Redfern Railway
Station precinct (including Gibbons and Regent Streets), Redfern
Public School, the Court House and old
Police Station, and Rachel
Forster Hospital.
The new planning controls will increase land values, notably
in the Eveleigh Street
and Gibbons Street/Redfern Railway Station precincts, by increasing the
allowable heights and densities of new developments. The existing controls fix
a maximum height of four storeys in the Gibbons Street/Redfern Railway Station
precinct. The proposed new controls will allow buildings of up to 5 to 18
storeys along Gibbons street.
The maximum Floor Space Ratio (FSR) in the precinct will increase to 7:1 from
the current 2:1 to 3:1. These controls create the risk of a canyon of towers
and wind tunnels near Redfern Station. The future role of Redfern Station as
part of an integrated traffic and transport node has not been addressed and
there is no information about plans for redevelopment above the Railway Station
or railway lines.
The new controls proposed on the land owned by the
Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC) in the Eveleigh Street precinct include a
maximum FSR of 0.5:1 for residential development and 1.5:1 for non-residential
development. Elsewhere in the precinct, the maximum FSR for residential
development will be 1:1 compared to a maximum FSR of 3:1 for non-residential
development. Maximum allowable building heights will be increased within the
precinct, with heights of up to five storeys being allowed in some cases.
These proposals for the Eveleigh Street precinct do not have the
support of the AHC and limit the number of dwellings on their site to around
30, rather than the 62 proposed in their Pemulwuy Project. This significant
issue needs to be resolved in cooperation with the AHC if the community is to
be assured that the RWA plans will retain Aboriginal people at the Block, with
improved housing, services, facilities and employment opportunities.
I am also concerned that the RWA Plan sets the stage for the
further sale of public assets and land in the Redfern area. There has been no
reconciliation of high population and working densities with increased needs
for open space and community facilities, nor is there any certainty that
revenues will be used to fund needed services and infrastructure.
The Plan will enable the Rachel Forster site to be used for
medium density residential. Developments of up to seven storeys will be allowed
on part of the former Redfern
Public School site, and
up to six storeys on the former police station site. The Court House and Police
Station are slated for business use, while serviced apartments and hotel, motel
and hostel accommodation will be allowed on the school site.
The Eveleigh Railyards proposals involve a 16 storey tower
for the northern end of the Eveleigh Railyards near Redfern Railway Station.
There is no information about the preservation of important railway heritage or
how nearby residents will be protected from traffic and other impacts. It
appears that the former South Sydney Council’s Darlington Village
local plans will be overridden.
Despite glossy “artist’s impression” images of Lawson Square
without multiple lanes of traffic on Gibbons Street and Regent Streets, the
plan has no strategies to achieve this. The RWA has a “vision” of returning
Regent Street and Gibbons Streets to two-way traffic, but acknowledges that
this “may not be imminent” because broader metropolitan and regional traffic
issues need to be considered. This “vision” conflicts with Government plans
since 2003 to extend the two-way pair further south to Green Square.
The Plan refers to strategies for public domain,
infrastructure, heritage, transport and utility services, yet provides little
detailed information on how they will b e provided and funded. The
redevelopment of Redfern Railway Station is the key element of the RWA’s
proposed Transport Strategy, yet there are no plans, no timetable and no funds
identified for the upgrade.
Department of Housing properties are listed for
consideration in Stage 2 of the plan, with a restatement of the commitment that
there will be no loss of public housing, existing tenants will be re-housed,
and existing tenancies are secure. Plans for affordable housing and development
contributions are still to be developed.
I believe that it is vital Council undertake a detailed
analysis of these plans to assess the impacts on the Redfern Waterloo area and
whether local residents will benefit and not suffer a loss of amenity from
increased development without any immediate improvements to infrastructure,
open space, public domain, community facilities or transport.
RECOMMENDATION:
That:
(A) a report on Stage One of the draft Redfern Waterloo
Authority Built Environment Plan and Draft State Environmental Planning Policy
(Major Projects) Amendment (Redfern-Waterloo) Policy 2006 be prepared for the
Planning, Development and Transport Committee;
(B) the report include draft submissions on the draft Built
Environment Plan and the Draft State Environmental Planning Policy, addressing:
(i) any inconsistency between the City’s planning controls
and policy objectives, and the draft Built Environment Plan and draft State
Environmental Planning Policy;
(ii) the likely impact on urban and residential amenity of
the draft Built Environment Plan and the draft State Environmental Planning
Policy;
(iii) the possible impact of the draft Built Environment
Plan and the draft State Environmental Planning Policy on the implementation of
the draft City of Sydney Social Plan
and particularly the Action Plan for Aboriginal people;
(iv) the social, cultural and amenity impacts of the proposed
land use controls for the Eveleigh
Street precinct;
(v) factors that may inhibit the realisation of the Built
Environment Plan, and in particular its public domain, transport, heritage,
infrastructure, utilities and urban design strategies; and
(vi) recommendations for supporting positive aspects and for
addressing identified limitations in the draft Built Environmental Plan and
State Environmental Planning Policy.
COUNCILLOR CLOVER MOORE MP
Lord Mayor