Mayoral Minute and Council Resolution of 11 Feb 2019 covering Waterloo Redevelopment

Item 3.4 – File No: S051491

To Council:

I am very
concerned about the escalation of NSW Government
planning projects in
our
local area through
State Significant Precincts, State Significant Developments and unsolicited proposals.

State planning now controls more than 274 hectares of land in our city, equivalent
in size to the
entire Green Square Urban Renewal Area. The projects effectively
exclude our community
from any say in the decision making process,
lack transparency and
undermine public faith in
the planning system.

Their wasteful and unpopular
plan to knock down
the award winning Philip Cox designed Sydney Football
Stadium is steamrolling ahead despite
close to 220,000 signatures on a petition opposed to the plan, 700 submissions overwhelmingly
against the plan
and despite a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry that
found that the community
was shut out of the
process, the Government undermined public confidence and the business case didn’t
meet the Government’s own criteria
for spending money on public infrastructure.

By bypassing their own planning processes,
just as they did with WestConnex, the State Government is demonstrating that
there is one rule for the State Government and its developers, and
another for everyone else, with devastating
impacts on our city and residents.

A key example is the proposed redevelopment of the Waterloo
Housing Estate and the Waterloo
Metro Project by the State Government
on public land.

Last month, the Minister for
Family and Community Pru
Goward announced the Government’s preferred redevelopment scheme for the Estate, confirming our fears about their plans for the future of the
neighbourhood.

Their proposal seeks to massively overdevelop the site and will see the current density
increase from 2,012 to 6,800
homes in towers up to 40 storeys
high.

It is a
planning experiment that will negatively impact on the lives of our most vulnerable communities and trample
on the rich history
of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities in the area.

Of the 4,788 additional
dwellings proposed on the Waterloo Estate, the redevelopment will only deliver an extra
28 homes for
social housing tenants and just 340
affordable rental units for essential city workers like nurses, teachers and emergency service
responders.

The proposal
also fails to consider the cumulative impact of other state-led developments located
close by, including the Waterloo
Metro development (also
produced by Urban Growth).
This site, located just next
door, will swell the precinct by another 700 apartments in three towers up to 25, 27
and 29 storeys respectively.

Of these new dwellings, only 70 homes will be set aside for
social housing and as low as
35 for affordable rental
units. Worse still, UrbanGrowth will not secure these homes in perpetuity, instead
only committing to affordable
housing through discounted rents for just ten
years.

The developments will
also have broader impacts – almost 4,300 extra vehicles
will be added to an already dense
and congested
area. Up to 3,850
car parking spaces are planned
for Waterloo Estate and 427 spaces for the
Metro Quarter despite it
sitting directly over a new metro station.

The fact
that both these developments are being pursued without
the community informed
about their combined
impacts is grossly negligent.

Residents in Waterloo are deeply distressed and concerned. The Government’s community ‘consultation’
has lacked detail and manipulated
or
ignored the impacts.
I believe the City should hold
a public meeting
so residents
can hear from our expert staff.

Also concerning is a proposal from the Star Casino.
They have recently used
a loophole
in the now repealed State planning system to request a radically
different change to an old development approval for a 10 storey tower and
hotel.

This blatant
disregard of the City’s overall planning
framework should be refused.
The controls were developed
by the City through extensive
community consultation and represent the views of local
residents, workers and
visitors. Despite the operator being
the Star Casino,
the site is owned by
the State government.

It is a scandalous abuse of the planning system and
will have a significant impact on surrounding areas, affecting
residential amenity, overshadowing the public domain and changing the identity
of Pyrmont forever.

The applicant must return back to the drawing board.

I believe
we should
inform the local community about the
proposal and encourage
them to have
their say.

In stark contrast to the ad hoc planning
decisions from the State, in
mid-2016 the City released
the most comprehensive urban planning strategy for
Central Sydney in 45 years.

Our draft Central Sydney Planning Strategy took three years to develop
and aims to balance the city’s residential
property boom with
the need to preserve
and grow commercial, retail and
cultural space.

The strategy
identified opportunities to unlock almost 2.9 million square metres
of additional floor space for
retail, hotel, cultural and office needs to
encourage economic
and employment growth over the next two
decades.

A key move was
the identification of concentrated ‘tower cluster’
areas where there is potential for 300 metre
tall commercial buildings, subject to federal
airport approval and a planning proposal.

This allows the city centre to
continue to grow while ensuring
essential solar access to Hyde Park and other
respected and valued public spaces such as the future Town Hall Square, Royal
Botanic Gardens, Martin Place, Wynyard Park and Prince
Alfred Park.

The 20-year strategy was the
first comprehensive plan since the City of Sydney Strategic
Plan in 1971 by George Clarke, which
set the skyline and character
of the Sydney
we live in today.

But despite positive responses to the strategy from the then
NSW
Premier, the then
Minister for Planning, and the Sydney Business Chamber,
the State Government has sat on the plan for two
and a half years and
blocked the request
by the City and CSPC
to put it out on
public exhibition.

The City began planning
for Town Hall Square more than 30
years ago. It will be the most significant addition of public space
in
the heart of our city for
over a century. The Square will be
located opposite Town Hall, bounded
by Pitt, Park and George
Streets and involves the demolition of buildings
and the creation
of a new public space.
It is featured as a centrepiece of the City’s draft
Central Sydney Planning Strategy.

Until now, developers have abided
by the draft sun access to the future Square,
recognising the importance of protecting this important
public space.

It is one of the few locations
in the central Sydney that enjoys sun until 6pm in summer
due to the
heritage precinct of the QVB, Town Hall
and St Andrew’s Cathedral,
and the lower scale development of the east Darling Harbour precinct.
The draft control put
forward in our Central
Sydney Planning Strategy
was for no further overshadowing in the
afternoon than what currently exists until
sunset.

City staff have made multiple
submissions and representations about the scale
and height of the proposed planning envelope on surrounding
buildings and current and future
public spaces. Late last
year, I also wrote to the Minister for Planning, the Minister for Transport and
the Minister
for Finance, Services and Property.

Last week, I was informed that NSW Planning
considers it
unreasonable to protect
solar access to the future Square after 4pm.

As the Department has prepared a report recommending approval of the
project, the application has been referred
to the Independent Planning Commission for determination.

We must ensure that the City is expertly represented
at
the hearing and encourage our local community
to also have
their say.

This type of planning
is
the very opposite of good development – something the
City has strived
to achieve
with careful and consultative planning, as well as with
our approach to liveability and design excellence.

Despite obvious
and significant issues, the NSW Government continues to
promote development on land that it owns
and that benefits the interests
of the top-end-of-town disregarding
community interest and the future liveability of our city. And as is the case
with Waterloo, the Government benefits from
being the developer
and
the decision maker.

For over 15 years,
the City has demonstrated our ability to expertly plan, coordinate
and assess large-scale development. In 2006, we assumed control of the planning
and infrastructure delivery
for Green Square. Thirteen years on, we
have delivered award winning community facilities, affordable housing, a thriving town
centre and worked with a
vast array of developers
to progress quality of place and
housing supply.

Representatives on the Central
Sydney Planning Committee
have also expertly determined almost
$28 billion dollars
of development since 2004. It is bewildering that a
Committee, set up by the
Coalition with a majority of state representatives including the Chief Planner of NSW and
NSW
Government Architect, would be denied the ability to review
and consider these kinds
of large-scale developments that
directly impact on
the liveability, vitality
and amenity of our city.

The future of our city
is too important to allow this abuse
of planning to continue.

Moved by Councillor Scott, seconded
by Councillor Thalis – It is resolved that:

(A)        
Council note:

(i) the NSW State Liberal government is in the process of a redevelopment of the Waterloo public housing precinct, surrounding the Waterloo Metro station development;

(ii) the NSW government’s preferred master plan includes a massive increase in density, while outcomes for access to public, social and affordable housing remain uncertain;

(iii) 
the NSW government’s preferred master plan also includes the sale of publicly-owned land to developers; and

(iv) in October 2017, the City issued a grant of $50,000
to the Waterloo
Public Housing Action Group to assist them in their advocacy and community education work in the area, including with regards to the planned Waterloo estate redevelopment;

(B)        
Council:

(i) advocate for the views of the community to be strongly represented in the redevelopment of the Waterloo public housing precinct;

(ii) advocate for an increase in public, social and affordable housing as a part of the redevelopment of the area;

(iii) advocate for accessible green spaces and community amenities for the general public as part of the redevelopment of the area; and

(iv) oppose the sell-off of public land in the Waterloo public housing
precinct; and

(C) 
the Lord Mayor be requested to write to the Premier of NSW, the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian; the NSW Opposition Leander, the Hon. Michael Daley; the NSW Minister for Planning, the Hon. Anthony Roberts; and the NSW Shadow Minister for Planning, the Hon. Tania Mihailuk, expressing these views.

Source: Printed minutes
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