City Of Sydney Submission on North Eveleigh

CONCEPT PLAN FOR PROPOSED NORTH
EVELEIGH REDEVELOPMENT, WILSON
STREET, NORTH EVELEIGH (REF: MP 08_0015)

REQUEST FOR COMMENTS ON THE CONCEPT
PLAN

I refer to your correspondence regarding the above.

Given the timeframe to make
comment on the redevelopment of the North Eveleigh
site, the proposal was not referred to the Planning Development and Transport
Committee of Council
or the Central Sydney Planning Committee for comment. The following information is provided by the Council’s Planning Department.

Preamble

An Environmental Assessment
Report was submitted to the Minister of Planning on behalf of Redfern-Waterloo
Authority (RWA) under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) in support of the
redevelopment of North Eveleigh, formerly
known as the Eveleigh Carriage Workshops.

North Eveleigh is identified as a State
Significant Site to which Part 3A of the EP&A Act applies under State Environmental Planning Policy
(Major Projects).

The Concept Plan seeks approval
for the achievement on the North Eveleigh site of a floor space equivalent to 180,007
sq m for the whole site (10.7 hectares), maximum building heights (ranging from 4 to 16 stories),
street and building layout, associated road works and building envelopes, parking (estimated to
be up to 3 levels of basement parking to accommodate approximately 1943 vehicles) and vehicle access
from two points
(i.e. a new access near Sheppard Street and one to be modified which currently exists at the eastern end of the
site off Wilson Street). The road from Little Eveleigh Street to Wilson Street will remain closed. The
project will include 92,139 sq m of floor space for residential development, including a 16 storey
tower at the eastern end of the site near the proposed pedestrian and cycle bridge
crossing (separate application to be lodged for bridge) as a gateway element, and 61,072 sq m
of floor space for commercial, 4000 sq m
of retail and 61,072 sq m cultural / community purposes.

The final number, layout, mix and
size of apartments, and number of parking spaces do not form part of this
application and will ultimately be determined in subsequent Project Application(s). However, the
architectural concept plans include an indicative apartment layout illustrating different
apartment types that may be accommodated within the building envelopes.

The proposed
development will result in less gross floor area than the maximum permitted under the site’s planning
controls.

The proposed Floor Space Ratio (FSR) for
the entire development is 1.67:1. The following FSRs
for the Eastern, Western and Central Precincts are achieved:

• Eastern Precinct: The achievement of a maximum floor space
  ratio of 2:1 for mixed use development (approximately 94,280m²) and 1:1 for
  residential development
  (approximately 47,140 m2)
• Western Precinct: The achievement of a maximum floor space
  ratio of 2:1 (approximately
  57,960m2)
• Central Precinct: The achievement of a maximum floor space
  ratio of 1.1:1 (approximately
  34,588 m2).

The RWA proposes the adaptive reuse of
heritage buildings and buildings of historic interest (i.e. the Carriage Workshop, Blacksmiths’
Shop, Telecommunications Equipment Centre, Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Office Building, Scientific Services
Building No 1, Clothing
Store, and restoration (in part), rebuild and extension of the Paint Shop
Building) including 52,730
sq m of floor space within these buildings, which amounts to 29% of the gross floor area of the site.
Approximately 20% (23,125 sq m) of the site is also proposed as publicly accessible open space, and
5,210 sq m of private space will be provided for residents.

A significant proportion of the 10.7
hectare site will be retained in public ownership. This includes the Yaama Dhiyaan Indigenous
Training College, the Carriage Works Performance Space (Note: an additional 12,000 sq m of floor space in the
western half of the building is proposed as part of the
Concept Plan)), the Eveleigh Community Markets (Blacksmiths’ Workshop) and the former Scientific Services building on
Wilson Street which is proposed to be a community centre.

Although the City is supportive of the
intention to revitalise the North Eveleigh
area, the Concept Plan proposes elements that may significantly compromise the
amenity of both existing and future development in
Redfern.

A review of the documentation has
identified a number of key issues, set out below, which are requested to be taken into consideration
during the assessment and determination of the
proposal.

Sustainable Sydney 2030

Concerns are raised that the North
Eveleigh Concept Plan (NECP) falls substantially short of the promise of the Redfern-Waterloo Built
Environment Plan (Stage One) August 2006 (BEP), and the opportunities
described in Council’s Draft Sustainable Sydney-2030 (SS-2030).

The BEP, NECP and SS-2030 explicitly and
generally express the importance of better integration into the existing city fabric. The
bridge to facilitate pedestrian and cycle movements between North
Eveleigh and the Australian Technology Park (ATP) car park must still be provided. This bridge formed part of a previous DA
consent approval for the performing arts centre (Carriageworks Site).

Cogeneration is a technology
that should be included as part of the Concept Plan.

To allow
for a more ‘fine grained’ development approach, basic development rules need to be ‘locked in’
now, particularly focusing on integrating street networks, permeability and the
public domain with the surrounding area, and not just a focus on the final
built form of particular
lots.

There is a recognised shortfall of accessible open space in the vicinity
of this site. Some open space is proposed, although there is no large scale
parkland. No detailed design of open spaces has been provided as part of the concept Masterplan.
Concerns are raised that
the proposed publicly accessible open space is in the form of building
separation / forecourts etc
rather than genuine useable public open space. In addition, concern is raised that some of the proposed spaces
would be of substandard size to be legible and properly utilized by the community and in some
cases compromised by such issues as poor accessibility
and / or rail noise.

In terms of
rail noise, detailed consideration should also be given to the appropriateness of uses at this stage and mitigation measures to both internal and
external spaces.

Better connections to and from the site are required as it would be
largely isolated from this
centre. Without better connections to and from the site, components such as the
proposed supermarket and
other employment activities are inappropriate as they will not contribute greatly to this centre.

Heritage

The heritage impact of the proposed
apartment buildings on top of the Paintshop has major heritage impacts. It appears to require
demolition of most of the south (railway line) elevation of the building. This
is the principle facade seen by large numbers of the public, so its conservation is crucial.

The proposed adaptation of the Chief
Engineer’s Office
Building to residential
use is inappropriate due to the extensive intervention
and subdivision required.

The proposed adaptation of the clothing store to residential use is
potentially acceptable but,
as with the Chief Engineer’s office, commercial may require less physical
intervention and be a better fit to the office.

The extent of new buildings proposed
over the ‘fan-of-tracks’ east of the Paintshop is likely to have major impacts on both fabric and the
ability to interpret this highly ranked heritage
feature when on the ground.

The proposed 16-storey ‘landmark / iconic’ building is inappropriate as
it will interfere with the
Vine Street vista termination of the Chief Mechanical Engineer’s (CME) building
by removing the cartilage
of sky above the roofline, and unacceptably remove views of the CME building from the south.

SEPP 65-Residential Amenity

The proposal shall provide a high level
of residential amenity in accordance with SEPP 65. An
assessment under SEPP 65 (including Residential Flat Design Code) will need to demonstrate that the development meets the design
quality principles and provides an excellent
example of quality design in respect to building configuration, internal
amenity, urban design and sustainability.

The
detailed proposal must integrate with the existing / retained uses on
the site, and also undertake an assessment of potential impacts on the residential
amenity of the adjoining residents including privacy and overshadowing. The
analysis shall include shadow
diagrams in plan and elevation and boundary cross sections, including
sightlines.

Sustainability

At the
Project Application Stage the detailed design of the development shall
incorporate ESD initiatives that achieve `world’s best
practice’.

As the proposal is for a concept approval, the Environmental Assessment
is not accompanied by a
BASIX Certification. Nonetheless, the Environmental Assessment should require Ecological Sustainable
Development principles to be addressed and demonstrate that the development will meet the
water and energy reduction targets for new multi unit
housing.

Traffic Parking and Access

The traffic generation rates, mode split
rates and car occupancy rates do not appear to have been undertaken as per the RTA Guide to
Traffic Generating Developments and known occupancy
rates.

The traffic modelling does not appear to accurately reflect the existing
traffic situation on the
surrounding state road network, nor take into account long standing proposals
to Close Sheppard Street
and Ivy Street both north of Abercrombie Street, and Butlin Avenue within the University.

It should be ensured that all public
transport upgrades are available as close as possible to
the site being occupied. Accessible local public transport is also a priority.

There will need to be design and installation of suitable traffic
management arrangements to
prevent site traffic using Queen
Street, also ensuring that all heavy vehicle
traffic will be directed along Golden Grove Street.

A review of the traffic impact the development will cause to Erskineville Village should be undertaken, avoiding
the use of residential streets where possible.

To date, insufficient, co-ordinated details have been provided with
regard to critical aspects
to enable a proper assessment of the proposed road dedications as part of the proposal.

Wilson, Abercrombie and Codrington Streets form part of the City’s
cycleway network laid out
in the City’s adopted Cycle Strategy and Action Plan 2007 – 2017. Wilson Street is
proposed to have separated cycleway constructed on the North
Eveleigh development side of the road for the section between Ivy Street to Burren Avenue. Any reconstruction of the roundabouts to enlarge them in
this section of road would have a negative impact on the City’s cost of construction for the
separated cycleway, and therefore can not be supported.

Golden Grove Street is a key
access corridor from King Street
and disability access to the
site must be provided at this location. Accessible access should also be
provided to the central and
western site precincts, as well as to the performing art centre and proposed supermarket.

Existing
parking facilities must be retained and clearly marked for their use only. Car
share parking spaces must also be provided in a publicly available location
within the site. Parking
rates are to comply with Central Sydney DCP and South Sydney DCP 11.

All
occupants (including residential and commercial) will not be eligible for any
City of Sydney parking permits.

The City will not consider changes to parking restrictions on
Abercrombie, Lawson or Shepherd
Streets as part of this development as these streets are local streets and the City does not want them to carry any more traffic.

Affordable
housing

The Concept Plan confirms that a
‘significant proportion’ of housing on the site will be affordable housing. However, there is no
indication of the location, quantum or design of the affordable housing. The Council supports the
provision of accessible affordable housing on the site and requests information on the location, quantum or
design of the affordable housing.

Future affordable housing on the North Eveleigh
site should include a substantial component of culturally appropriate housing for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander communities.

Community

The provision of affordable on-site
child care, compliant with the City’s Child Care
Centres DCP, to meet the
needs of future resident and workforce populations on the site and open to other families, is supported.

The provision of community facilities to support community development of
both the future resident
and workforce populations on the site and surrounding communities is supported.

The proposal includes employment (and training) of Aboriginal people,
through the Redfern
Waterloo Authority’s existing Aboriginal employment programs. This is strongly supported.

Analysis of the demographics of the future resident population
(projected to be 2400 people) should be undertaken and applied to design
considerations. The community development needs of the new resident population, beyond the community
centre and during the renewal process is also required.

Public
domain

Despite the
scale of the development, there is little if any discussion
about the impacts on the surrounding public domain /
streetscape and how this will be managed I protected.

What is intended within each stage is unclear – e.g. construction and
dedication or just construction?
The Council may have issues accepting dedication of land that will be subject to later construction traffic, without a community to serve.

The overall design of the open space
areas, including publicly accessible and private spaces, is heavily fragmented and results in a
number of small, narrow spaces. The Council is not
convinced how they will be used and the amenity they will offer.