PLANS
ON DISPLAY FROM 5pm. BRIEFING AT 6:30PM – ENTER
FROM MAIN GATE ON BROADWAY (NEAR THE CLARE
HOTEL)
Hopefully, you
may have seen flyers highlighting the Community Meeting this Wednesday 9 July,
which has been organised by Frasers, the new owners of the former CUB site.
This meeting
has been arranged in response to community representations for Frasers to make
a community presentation to show the proposed changes to the Concept Plan.
FYI, new Plans
were lodged with the Minister for Planning in May this year and are expected to
go on exhibition for public comment any day.
We are however
concerned that, as yet, the documentation for the amended plans is still not
available. As such we have written to Frasers urging them to make the
plans available prior to the meeting.
FYI, a Concept
Plan was approved last year, when Fosters (Brewery) still owned the site.
These plans were seen as controversial due to the amount and scale of the
development proposed and lack of any environmental initiatives.
For locals who
may be new to the area – previous planning controls for the site allowed
development up to 45 metres (say 15 storeys) with a 15 metre height limit (5
storeys) on the parameter.
These controls
were subsequently changed in response to representation from Fosters, to Frank
Sartor, who now is the Planning Minister. The Minister subsequently “called
in the site”; then changed the height limits allowing multiple high rise towers
and a substantial increase in bulk and scale.
This
effectively “guaranteed” Fosters a financial outcome that could not be achieved
without removing the height restrictions. This action was contrary to the
Jury findings for the Design Competition which clearly indicated the height and
scale that is now proposed could not be supported.
In the case of
the “Fraser” plans, the public will shortly get an opportunity to respond to
their “Amended” plans which are due to go on exhibition for public comment.
We urge you to
come to this important meeting – which is on between 5pm to 8pm. Enter from the
Main Gate on Broadway (towards the Clare
Hotel ).
Importantly, we
encourage you to attend the briefing by the team of international architects at
6:30pm. Here you can raise your concerns and also hear local input. From
5pm till 6:30pm, the plans can be viewed via a series of “storyboards”.
For locals not
familiar with what a Concept Plan means – this is like a Master Plan which
determines the land use, height and scale of the buildings, open space, parking
and street layout. Importantly a Concept Plan does NOT lock in specific designs
– rather may indicate which buildings need a design excellence outcome. So it’s
important to remember designs you may see are likely to be only a design
“impression”.
FYI, in April
this year, Frasers gave a media presentation which showed their intended
“Amended” Plans – this included some terrific design and environmental
initiatives which the community has long lobbied for – “a visionary world class
outcome”.
We are however
troubled that the overall height and bulk has been increased – particularly
along the site’s external parameter. This was unexpected – indeed we had
expected Frasers to reduce the bulk and scale of the development. In essence,
these “Amended” plans showed one building less (from the “Foster” plans),
however in turn the height and bulk on other parts of site was pushed up,
despite expert opinion calling for a reduction in site density. Also the large
floor plates which are now proposed effectively substantially increase
population counts and the impact on local infrastructure.
Interesting the
Government will get a big funding increase for the RWA (we understand the
sliding scale goes up dependent on a particular gross floor space being
achieved).
Whilst we don’t
want to deter the wonderful environmental indicatives, it is important to
understand the proposal in terms of its scale and what it means to the
character of Chippendale and Broadway. Typically, big developments like
this have a team of consultants working for the developer, who will use
interesting perspectives that may later not eventuate.
In short, the
size and scale of the development is one of Sydney ’s largest – and very much at odds
with the immediate area both north and south. Unfortunately this has the
potential to set precedents for adjoining areas. As a comparison – the proposed
Floor Space Ratio (density) is more than twice that proposed for Barangaroo
redevelopment ( East
Darling Harbour
)!
The challenge
as we see it for Frasers is the price paid for the site –$208M. We
believe there can still be a good financial outcome for Frasers which ensures
the design and environmental initiatives are included but reduces the scale of
the development.
FYI, the latest
information we have (from media reports and presentations we saw in April)
indicate the plans include 10 major high rise towers – ranging in size from
approx 30 metres to 120 metres (say 40 floors).
Notably whilst
the revised plans increase open space this is insufficient in terms of the
increased usage.
FYI, the latest
information also suggests the number of people on site
(residents/workers/students) may well be as high as 13,000 – this is a huge
increase from 7,600 which what was already seen as too large. Bear in mind much
of the open space will still be overshadowed.
Other changes
include parking which is now mainly underground. This enables the open
space to be increased with green-friendly above surface transport modes.
On the negative
side, there are still grave concerns about the impact on local infrastructure –
ie having sufficient capacity to cope with the size and scale of the
redevelopment.
Concerns are
also raised in terms of site contamination and whether the open space will be
safe to use despite remediation works.
As indicated
earlier, we have called on Frasers to make available all the documentation
including key information ahead of Wednesday’s meeting – so that locals have
time to be informed before the meeting rather than rely on “storyboards” at a
forum where PR spin and confusion often occurs. So far we have been told
this cannot be done.
In response we
have today again written to Frasers, saying we see no reason why the
documentation cannot be made available by Frasers on their website, as we
understand there is no formal process that prevents a developer from releasing
information before a formal public exhibition period commences.
We understand
that Council may be intending to use Wednesday’s meeting to present interim
plans for the Balfour
Street Park
– which were prepared in consultation with Frasers. This land is outside
the site and should be subject of a separate community workshop – as debate
about these plans could easily sidetrack Wednesday’s meeting. Locals may
recall a previous community meeting when Fosters owned the site – when the
meeting was distracted from the real debate (about the scale of the
development) with a ‘red-herring’ over where the park should go.
Importantly,
the Concept Plan is about a Master Plan – not a detailed design.
This may be
your one chance to find out what is happening and make your voice heard.
Likewise please let your neighbours and friends know about this very important
meeting.
We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
Source: Coalition Chippendale Community Groups Chippendale
News email communityworkingparty@yahoo.com.au