Since Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) released the Waterloo South artist impressions, Council has released further details. A map with building heights compares LAHC’s current proposal with its 2019 preferred plan and Council’s alternative proposal. A detailed presentation to REDWatch is now also available as a webinar on Council’s website.
Officers expect to present their planning proposal and the 10,000 pages of LAHC material they have considered, to Council around November 2020. Some material is promised before then.
Council distinguishes between the planning framework (the controls that they have to determine) and the reference scheme (masterplan) supplied by LAHC as a test of the framework. The reference scheme’s artist impressions are just one of many outcomes possible under the controls. Once determined, the controls will provide the framework for the developer to produce its designs to be assessed and exhibited at a later stage.
In the webinar, Council details “improvements” LAHC made to its 2019 preferred masterplan, including: the large central park opposite the new metro station; more sunlight in parks; George Street remaining a street; no development over existing streets; some streets widened; building heights reduced to meet Sydney airport requirements and regional bicycle path retained (but back to being a “shared path” running between the towers whose elderly residents had convinced LAHC to reroute via the metro station for safety reasons).
Eddie Ma from Vigilanti says the new park is the same size as the existing open space on the estate, but will need to service many more people. Council emphasises the new park is not privately owned and becomes public space.
Heights and density are two concerns for community. LAHC proposes around 3,000 dwellings in nine towers of between 20 and 32 storeys, three buildings of 15 storeys and a range of other buildings up to eight storeys high. On its website, Council has made it clear that “it is likely changes will be made to the proposal the corporation has submitted”. Eddie Ma points out that the highest building in Green Square is 28 storeys.
LAHC proposes one 32-storey building with 10.55 times more floor space than its land area. Council says this is “typical of floor space ratios (FSR) in the centre of the city and rarely found outside the city centre”.
The FSR proposed across the total site is 3.09:1, which is what LAHC proposes for privately owned sites. LAHC gets greater FSRs on its land by adding the floor space it could have built on the 40 per cent of the site it is giving Council for parks and streets. LAHC also proposes its floor space not be spread evenly so a private block might have only 29 per cent of the development potential of a nearby LAHC tower.
Discussions are underway about how Council can best help people understand the proposal and consult the Community during the public exhibition in the first half of 2021. Council’s webinar is an excellent start – just search for City of Sydney Waterloo.
