The proposed heights, in the background, before they were reduced.
The Minister for Planning, Brad Hazzard, said the
decision of the previous government directing the City of Sydney to
increase proposed buildings’ heights and density on part of the Ashmore
industrial estate in Erskineville meant development would be
”completely out of character with the nearby area”.
He said the government supported the City of Sydney’s
resolution to remove the huge Ashmore estate from its local
environmental plan so that the development proposals for the site could
be prepared separately.
The lord mayor, Clover Moore, welcomed the change but
local residents said it would still allow the council’s plan for
buildings up to nine storeys.
”We wanted the original 2006 plan which called for a
maximum of five storeys, that was before the previous government stepped
in with 19 storeys,” said Mike Hatton, the president of the Friends of
Erskineville residents group.
Mr Hatton said when the former Malley’s industrial site
was fully developed, it would almost double Erskineville’s population
from 6500 to 12,000 residents and the state and government needed to
work together.
”Our real concern is there is no whole-of-government
approach … there’s absolutely no mention in the draft development
control plan of a traffic plan, no mention of a revision of public
transport infrastructure.”
The Goodman company which is developing most of the site
said the decision was not unexpected and would give some certainty to
the company as it worked up plans with the City of Sydney.
Chris Johnson, the chief executive of developer lobby
group Urban Taskforce, was concerned the changes would see too little
development on a site that was big enough for high rise.
Source: www.smh.com.au/nsw/highrise-decision-brought-back-to-earth-20120314-1v3mh.html