No Lewisham Towers

A developer, Demian Constructions, wants to build multiple residential towers and a huge supermarket mall at the corner of Old Canterbury Road and Longport Street Lewisham.  The proposal is an outrageous overdevelopment of the site that will be detrimental to the local community.  The local community is opposed to this development and are campaigning against it.

The Developer’s Plans

The developers  revised proposal is available to view here . 

Note these plans are proposed to replace the current part3a plans which are on the Dept of Planning website.

Issues

9,6,4 storey towers are a massive overdevelopment – the surrounding community consists mainly of one and two storey residences.  Lewisham does not have the infrastructure to cope with such an influx of people and cars in such an intensive development.  Local residents will lose amenity due to this development.

Traffic congestion and pollution - the units, a supermarket mall and basement car parking will generate significant amounts of traffic.  Local streets will suffer increased congestion, noise, particle pollution and a lack of parking.  The intersection at Old Canterbury Road and Railway Terrace is already heavily congested during peak hours.  It will not function under the pressure such a large development will place on it.

Community disruption - Lewisham is currently a quite residential area.  Building such massive towers and a supermarket mall will change the nature of the community.  Construction of such a huge development will cause severe disruption and inconvenience for local residents.

New precedents for building size – The proposed development is off-the-scale for building heights and size.  If this development proceeds these will be the highest buildings in the Marrickville local government area.  This means other developers will attempt to build larger, taller buildings in our community.

Local shopping strips hurt – Such a large amount of retail will affect the viability of local shopping strips such as Petersham, Dulwich Hill and Summer Hill shops.  It will attract car based shoppers and our main streets will suffer as a result. Marrickville Metro hurt local shopping strips badly when it opened.  This shopping centre will have a similar effect.  Do you want your local shopping strip to be filled with struggling and empty shops?

The Cooks River to Iron Cove Greenway project – the Greenway project envisions a green corridor for cyclists, walkers and light rail running along the old goods line and linking the Cooks River to Iron Cove.  The proposed development will build right up to the rail line and pose a significant obstacle for the continuity of the Greenway project.

Long-nosed bandicoots – A threatened population of long-nosed bandicoots lives along the rail corridor where this development is located.  This development may further threaten the survival of this population of long-nosed bandicoots.

Watch a presentation outlining The Greens’ concerns about this development: (please excuse the flashing screen at the beginning of this video)

Bypassing the local community – Part 3A

The developer has decided to bypass the local Council and community and apply straight to the state goverment’s Minister for Planning, Kristina Kenneally.  They are able to do this under the controversial Part 3A of the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

Part 3A was introduced by the NSW Labor government  in 2005.  It allows big developments to be declared ’state significant’ which then allows them to be assessed and approved by the Minister for Planning.  Locally elected councils and the community are bypassed in a process that lacks transparency.

Part 3A was widely seen as a reward to big developers who have made big donations to help fund the NSW Labor Party’s election campaigns.  Property developers donated $9.9 million to the NSW Labor Party between 2002-2007.

According to the Department of Planning’s own figures, under Part 3A 295 of 296 applications were approved (that’s 99.6% of applications).  That’s despite 14,000 public submissions being received against proposals.  Clearly, Part 3A serves developers well.

The community believes that this development should be assessed and decided by the locally elected council – Marrickville Council.  Local councillors know their community well and are directly responsible to the community.

The Lewisham site

Marrickville Council has now updated s Local Environment Plan (the master plan for the whole area).  During this work the old industrial sites along the goodsline in Lewisham have been identified as an area for possible re-zoning and urban renewal.  The Council has to produce a master plan for the entire area to ensure that it complements and contributes to the existing community.

The council’s new masterplan calls for an FSR of 1.7 to 1 on this site (Floor Space Ratio)

The current developer’s proposal is suggesting a FSR of 3.5 to 1!

The surrounding area generally consists of one or two storey residences.  Building sizes between three and six storeys are considered  appropriate for a residential redevelopment of the old industrial area of Lewisham.  

Marrickville Council produced and adopted a comprehensive Urban Strategy in 2007.  This strategy involved extensive community consultation.  Lewisham was identified as a ‘neighbourhood centre’.  Locating a major supermarket mall at Lewisham would make it an urban centre.  However, Lewisham does not have the infrastructure to be an urban centre and it will result in severe traffic congestion and loss of amenity for existing residents.

The Donations and the Consultant