Motion against Lewisham Towers – Marrickville Council
The following motion has been lodged for debate at the 16 June Marrickville Council meeting.
It seeks to rescind the previous decision of Marrickville Council.
The previous motion opposing the development was voted down by a combination of Labor and Independent Councillors in March. The Greens will move to reverse that decision give all councillors a chance to vote against this development by supporting the motion below.
The public is welcome to attend meetings – 6.30pm, Tuesday 16 June at Marrickville Council Chambers, 2 Fisher Street Petersham. See Map.
Rescission Motion – replacing NM 11
Part 3A application for 14 story residential towers and supermarket complex at Longport Street and Old Canterbury Road Lewisham.
Councillor Max Phillips
That Marrickville Council notes:
1) that an application has been lodged with the Department of Planning for assessment under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 of a proposed development at Longport Street and Old Canterbury Road Lewisham;
2) the proposed development includes large residential towers and substantial retail space that is likely to have major effects on the local community, traffic generation and flow, and the Marrickville Urban Strategy;
3) the large amount of retail space in this development has potentially detrimental effects on main street shopping strips within the Marrickville LGA and is also likely to affect shopping areas in the Leichhardt and Ashfield LGAs;
4) 99.6% of applications accepted for assessment under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 have been approved.
5) the significant attendance at a public meeting on the development on the 20 May, and the widespread and significant concern of residents in both the Marrickville and Ashfield local government areas.
That Marrickville Council:
6) Opposes the proposed development for the following reasons:
- It is a gross overdevelopment of the site;
- It will set unwanted precedents for building height and size for the Inner West;
- It is totally out of scale with the surrounding community;
- It will overwhelm local roads and create traffic congestion and noise and air pollution;
- It is a threat to the viability of local shopping strips and small businesses;
- It may harm the population of threatened long-nosed bandicoots in the area;
- It disrupts the vision of the Cooks River to Iron Cove Greenway active transport corridor;
- It uses Part 3A of the EPA Act to bypass the local Council and effectively sideline the community from the development process.
7) Opposes the use of Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 to assess this development, and calls on the Minister to refer the development to Marrickville Council;
8) Write to the member for Marrickville, Carmel Tebbutt, the member for Strathfield, Virginia Judge, the member for Balmain, Verity Firth, the member for Canterbury, Linda Burney, and the member for Grayndler, Anthony Albanese, asking them to oppose the development and requesting they lobby the Minister for Planning to reject this development for assessment under Part 3A and it to be referred for assessment by Marrickville Council;
9) Writes to the Minister for Planning and the Director-General of the Department of Planning informing them of Marrickville Council’s position and the contents of this motion.
10) Support the community campaign ‘No Lewisham Towers’ by promoting the
website www.nolewishamtowers.org on Council’s website.
Background:
A developer, Demian Constructions, has submitted an application to the Department of Planning for the proposed development at Longport Street and Old Canterbury Road Lewisham to be assessed under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
The Director-General has now issued his requirements to the developer allowing the developer up to two years to submit detailed plans for assessment under Part 3A.
This will mean that the development will bypass council assessment, which will limit community input into the process and the transparency and accountability of the decision making process.
The development plans are for multiple residential towers up to 14 stories high and up to 12,300 square metres of retail space, including a 3,345 square metre supermarket.
This large development will potentially impact on the integrity of the Marrickville Urban Strategy that was adopted by Council after considerable community consultation.
This development will have major effects for local residents in Lewisham, Dulwich Hill and Summer Hill and on traffic generation and flows around the site, which are already heavily congested.
Fourteen storey high buildings will far exceed any existing building in the Marrickville LGA and has the potential to set a new precedent in building heights for the LGA.
The retail space proposed in this development will have major effects on local shopping strips within the Marrickville LGA, particularly Petersham, Dulwich Hill and Marrickville, and will also affect shopping strips in Summer Hill, Leichhardt and Ashfield.
The site backs onto the proposed Cooks River to Iron Cove GreenWay, which Marrickville Council supports, and if approved will have a detrimental impact of the development of the GreenWay.
Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 strips the power of local councils to be the consent authority for very large or important developments. The intention is for it to be used only for developments of ‘state significance’.
The Greens do not believe a five residential buildings and a supermarket mall in Lewisham meet the threshold of being of ‘state significance’. We also believe that developments that significantly impact on the local community should be decided by the Council directly elected by the local residents.
There is a strong public perception that ‘Part 3A’ is used as a way for developers to bypass local councils and local communities for fast tracked development approval.
According to the Department of Planning’s own figures, since Part 3A came into operation 99.6 % of projects accepted for assessment under Part 3A have been approved.
There is a strong public perception that many projects approved under Part 3A have been proposed by companies who have made donations to the NSW Labor Party. This has undermined the public’s confidence in the integrity of our planning system and led to perceptions of corruption.
According to the financial discloser records of the Electoral Funding Authority and the Australian Electoral Commission, the entity ‘Demian Developments’ has donated over $20,000 to the NSW Labor Party since 2002.
The director and secretary of ‘Demian Developments’ during the time of these donations is the same director and secretary of ‘Demian Constructions’ the proponent of the Lewisham Towers development. It is highly likely that the public will perceive a potential conflict of interest if this development is decided under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
Local councillors are directly elected by, and responsible to local residents. As such, we are in the best position to decide on development applications which will have a big impact on the community and the community can reflect on our performance at the ballot box.
The Part 3A system of development assessments, and the system of regional planning panels, disconnect democratic accountability from the development assessment process. This is likely to lead to decisions that are detrimental to the local community and resentment about the imposition of such decisions.