Earlier this week the North Shore Times reported a Planning Proposal for a 15 storey development at 345 Pacific Highway Lindfield which caused a stir. If approved, it will have implications for increasing housing supply, setting a new precedent of heights in the suburb, and also traffic implications. The developer has rejected Council’s suggestion of widening the Pacific Highway southbound bottleneck from 2 lanes (effective) to 3 lanes, matching the 3 lanes present at the rest of the highway. Details below.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐น๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ? Councilโs Local Environment Plan (LEP) zones this land as E1 Local Centre. 2,665 sqm of land with allowed heights of 11.5m (3 storeys) and floor space ratio of 1:1 (i.e. 2,665 sqm of floor space).
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ข๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ (๐ง๐ข๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฃ๐ฃ)? As the site is within 400m of Lindfield Station, which is a future TODD site, the owners will be allowed to build at a height of 21m (6-7 storeys) with floor space ratio of 3:1 (i.e. 7,995 sqm).
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น? It is a proposal, typically initiated by a land owner, to change the properties of an existing LEP. In this case, the owner wants to build taller than the 3 storeys and 2,665 sqm of floor space that is currently allowed.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ? An increase of the height from 11.5m to 55m (15 storeys). An increase of the floor space ratio from 1:1 to 4.5:1 (11,992.5 sqm).
๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐น? No, it has been initiated by the land owner.
๐ช๐ต๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ? A range of reasons were provided including Proximity to the railway station, multiple bus services, and the highway. The absence of environmental constraints such as bushfire or flooding hazards. Minimal impact on neighbouring properties due to being an โislandโ site. Consistency with various State, Regional and Local planning objectives.
๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ? From what I understand, the Planning Proposal is going through two separate and parallel pathways.
The conventional path has council officers assessing the proposal. Once assessed, it will go to an independent planning panel (in this case the Ku-ring-gai Local Planning Panel) in May before going to a Council vote in June. If Council supports the proposal, then it will go to the Department of Planning for a โGateway Determinationโ. If Council does not support, then it will follow an alternate path (which has already been triggered).
The alternate path which is happening in parallel is that the owner has requested a โRezoning Reviewโ which means that an independent planning panel (in this case, probably the Sydney North Planning Panel) will review the matter before it goes to the Department of Planning for a โGateway Determinationโ. Itโs too early to tell how long it will take the independent panel to assess the matter, but Q2 or Q3 2024 may be a reasonable estimate.
In either case, if it reaches Gateway Determination then there will be some further assessments and public exhibition of whatโs proposed before a final decision is made. Depending on what exactly happens, the decision maker may be the council, or a planning panel, or even the Minister of Planning. It is too early to tell which path will be taken.
๐ช๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ? I don’t know. But there has been a history of planning proposals rejected by Council but subsequently approved by an alternate pathway.
๐๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ, ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐? It may provide for more housing near the town centre. Each person has their own interpretation over whether this is good or bad.
It may set a precedent for building heights and floor space ratios elsewhere in the suburb.
๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ธ๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/rezoning-reviews/under-assessment/345-pacific-highway-lindfield
