[North Eveleigh] Comment on Government's Central to Eveleigh Anouncement

[Geoff Turnbull]

Dear People with an Interest in North Eveleigh,

 

Below you will find comments and background from REDWatch Regarding Friday's
Announcement. REDWatch will look to work with resident groups around the
site to organise a community meeting with UrbanGrowth NSW and to try and get
in place the kind of the community participation the Minister has promised
under the New Planning System. 

 


REDWatch Comment on Government's "Central to Eveleigh Global Precinct
Opportunity" Anouncement


 

The NSW Government has called for expressions of interest to revitalise and
expand Sydney's CBD by redeveloping land and airspace in the Central to
Eveleigh rail corridor on Friday 12 July 2013. 

You can find the documents from the announcement from the page Central to
Eveleigh
<http://www.urbangrowthnsw.com.au/news/news/central-to-eveleigh.aspx>  on
the UrganGrowth NSW website. Some media reports and other information can be
found on the REDWatch website under the Central to Eveleigh
<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/corridor>  tab. Below we have tried to
unpack the announcement and set it in the context of the controls and
decisions of the RWA.  

The corridor covered by the announcement extends for approximately three
kilometres from the Goulburn Street car park in the Sydney CBD to
Macdonaldtown station. It includes Central and Redfern stations, Australian
Technology Park (ATP), Railcorp's Air-conditioned Depot Carriage Sheds
(ACDEP) and Macdonaldtown Stabling Yards, North Eveleigh and airspace above
railway lines in proximity to Central and Redfern Stations and maybe
Macdonaldtown.

The Central to Eveleigh Corridor is one of the elements in the Global Sydney
City Shapers of the Draft Metropolitan Strategy for Sydney to 2031 which set
a priority to "investigate the regeneration potential of areas such as Town
Hall, Central to City Road and Central to Eveleigh". The Metro Strategy has
just gone off exhibition and the Planning Department's last community
information session on the Strategy was held the day after the announcement.


REDWatch argued in the REDWatch Submission on Draft Metropolitan Strategy
for Sydney to 2031
<http://www.redwatch.org.au/govt/nsw/nps13/ms2031/130713redw>  that the
exhibition should not be rushed through and should be re-exhibited under the
improved community participation promised in the New Planning System for
such a plan. Seven hundred people supported REDWatch's online petition to
this effect. Never the less the Minister continued with the exhibition and
has now used the Metro Strategy as the basis for this announcement before
submissions have been considered. 

The City of Sydney in its Sustainable Sydney 2030 Vision said "Central
Station will be re-cast as an important southern arrival gateway to the City
and a place for significant redevelopment over the rail lines and around a
series of redesigned public squares." Much of the Minister's announcement
seems to refer primarily to the large scale development that will be
necessary to justify the cost of building over the area between Cleveland
Street and Central. 

cid:image001.jpg at 01CE823F.A3ADF400

Central End of Proposed Central to Eveleigh Strategy

The SMH property editor has suggested towers of 50 storeys just to make it
viable so you can see why the Urban Taskforce is concerned that "local
action groups will almost certainly want to reduce the impact". Chippendale
residents in the mixed use area between Abercrombie and Regent Streets will
feel especially venerable with the Frazer's site to the North, a growing bar
district and now very high rise proposed to their east. The proposal
increases the likelihood of a push to also allow high density in adjoining
Chippendale which will be harder to resist with the changes proposed in the
New Planning System and with the powers of UrbanGrowth to compulsorily
acquire properties to facilitate block consolidation for development if the
area is target by the government.

cid:image002.jpg at 01CE823F.A3ADF400

Eveleigh End of Proposed Central to Eveleigh Strategy

Thrown in with the Central development is the option of building over
Redfern Station and a "Development Opportunity over Rail" to the south
connecting to the station that could also provide a pedestrian and bicycle
link from ATP to North Eveleigh. The argument is that "High density
development above and adjacent to the rail corridor will provide for the
conservation and renewal of Central and Redfern railway stations as world
class facilities". 

The option of building over Redfern Station option was rejected several
years ago because it was not believed to be financially viable at that time.
Instead the Redfern Waterloo Authority (RWA)'s Built Environment Plan (BEP1)
proposed buildings up to 14 storeys opposite the newly completed 18 storey
DeiCota Tower. An over station development is more likely to deliver a
station accessible from many directions where the low rise options discussed
to date cut off access from some directions.

There is no guarantee in the proposal about a new Redfern Station. The
proposal uses wording like "it could also lead to the upgrade of Central and
Redfern stations into world class transport facilities" and "there will . be
opportunities to upgrade . Redfern station". We might have a long wait still
before we see an accessible station as building over railway lines is a very
expensive business and needs tall buildings to pay for it. Redfern property
prices may need to go up much further before it becomes financially viable
without a significant government contribution. In the meantime Redfern
Station languishes without lifts.

The former Eveleigh Railyards that have been the subject of community
consultation for planning controls, Master plans and Concept plans over the
last 7 years are also covered by the announcement. "The future of the
existing North Eveleigh Concept Plan and Redfern Waterloo Master plan (sic)
will also be determined as part of this process" says the announcement.
That's a nice way of saying that if someone makes an offer but wants to put
up bigger buildings they will consider it and no longer be bound by what has
been earlier been negotiated with the community and already been put into
planning law. 

The planning controls for some of the sites in the Redfern - Eveleigh sites
can be found in the State Environmental Planning Policy (Major Development)
Redfern
<http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/mapindex?type=epi&year=2005&no=194#RWA>
-Waterloo Authority Sites. The links to the key maps are:

.         Land Use Zoning Map
<http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/map/SEPP_MD_RWA_LZN_001_20110913.pdf?id=6
f78b34d-9bab-49a7-f9e1-bcb941b80a3b>  (344 kB) 

.         Heritage Map
<http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/map/SEPP_MD_RWA_HER_001_20110913.pdf?id=1
3e3f896-7605-61d7-c2b7-a4b226fc8037>  (338 kB) 

.         Height of Buildings Map
<http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/map/SEPP_MD_RWA_HOB_001_20110913.pdf?id=8
8bf3142-d24c-e128-fad0-e65dcce1fcd2>  (346 kB)

.         Floor Space Ratio Map
<http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/map/SEPP_MD_RWA_FSR_001_20110913.pdf?id=e
c3e4de8-408a-4da7-8574-8c694cad546a>  (348 kB) (excludes ATP see below)

.         ATP Gross Floor Area Map
<http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/map/SEPP_MD_RWA_GFA_001_20110913.pdf?id=3
3696d08-18ba-e8fd-fd06-9ec0d2d8965c>  (158 kB) (FSR not on RWA FSR map above

UrbanGrowth NSW who is handling the process for the NSW Government "will
look at all feasible development delivery options for bringing land packages
or sub precincts to market." Encouragingly the announcement text sees
"medium density mixed use and residential development within the Eveleigh
precinct" even though the diagrams show the Eveleigh developments as high
density neighbourhoods - so who knows what to expect!

One such high density neighbourhood is shown for the areas zoned for
development at the ATP that is currently zoned as a Business Park. It is not
clear if the intention is to now include residential as is inferred within
the term neighbourhood or if the Government thinks it can get offers for
high density commercial. Frasers on the CUB site recently scrapped one of
their commercial buildings and are trying to turn it into student
accommodation as there was not sufficient market demand. It is certain that
Alexandria residents, still smarting from the Channel 7 building, will not
be happy about the Minister's announcement.

Key Eveleigh heritage buildings like Carriageworks, ATP's Locomotive
buildings and the large Erecting Shop are untouched by the proposed
redevelopment areas although the area occupied by the Paint Shop is shown as
high density. The Frequently Asked Questions sheet released with the
announcement provides some assurance on Heritage. It states: "The corridor
vision recognises the heritage significance of the precinct which is
included in both State and City of Sydney Heritage registers. Any future
development will need to demonstrate how existing heritage is to be
retained". Elsewhere the proposal states "Heritage assets within the
precinct will be conserved, with adaptive re-use which preserves heritage
values into the 21st Century." Maybe there will now just be a much taller
building up through the Paint Shop!

In contrast to Frank Sartor's assertion that the RWA Act needed to be able
to over-ride the Heritage Act because the state's oldest public toilet was
standing in the way of redeveloping Redfern Station the announcement
recognises the need for the "Preservation and renewal of prized heritage
assets, including Central and Redfern stations".

The proposal shows North Eveleigh with high density neighbourhoods to the
east and west of Carriageworks but we have to wait for the developer
interest and negotiations to see how that might eventuate and compare with
the approved concept plan and existing controls. Worryingly only the new
City West Affordable housing development and the access road on the Newtown
end of North Eveleigh are locked in. The two sites along Wilson Street, the
Clothing Store and the proposed new park at the Western end of North
Eveleigh are likely to be early tests of what might change under the new
approach. There are a number of challenging traffic issues that will also
need to tackled in any density increase on the site.

BEP1 also included a long term provision for redevelopment on the non-ATP
part of South Eveleigh however controls were not put into the SEPP over the
ACDEP Carriage Sheds. Most of the initial focus here was on the campaign to
save the Large Erecting Shop which was successfully removed from the
re-development controls last year. The Minister's announcement also includes
a high density neighbourhood over the RailCorp operating sites of the ACDEP
Carriage Sheds as well as the low density portion of the Eveleigh public
housing estate. The redevelopment of the public housing was also flagged
RWA's BEP2 which covered the redevelopment of the area's public housing.

One area not covered by BEP1 and down for another high density neighbourhood
is the recently completed Macdonaldtown stabling yards. From the diagram
this development looks like it potentially includes Macdonaldtown station
but this is not mentioned in the text and the colour code does not have it
as an "Over Rail" development. The residents of Leamington Avenue having
fought RailCorp over the uncertainty and possible resumption of their homes
a couple of years ago now face a similar battle with this unexpected new
high density proposal impacting on their homes.

By putting Central to Macdonaldtown developments in one internationally
promoted expression of interest the Government hopes it will also get
interest in the Redfern and Eveleigh sites as well as the more attractive
sites around Central. The proposal says "The precinct is most likely too
large to be delivered by a single development. The . strategy will look at
all feasible development delivery options for bringing land packages or sub
precincts to market".

Interestingly only a couple of weeks ago news broke of a failed bid for a
much larger unsolicited proposal to the NSW Government from Chinese
contractors who offered to underground the rail corridor and the M4 East in
exchange for being able to build 150 pre-fabricated skyscrapers from Central
Station to Strathfield. You can see the details under A Corridor
Re-Development Offer: Swap you: Chinese skyscrapers for a motorway
<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/corridor/130629smh> . This prompts the
question: What other interesting offers will come from the expressions of
interest process.

One of the areas that is welcomed in the proposal is the stated desire to
use the redevelopments to provide greater permeability across the railway
line. Near Central the whole area gets built over where three crossings are
proposed across the railway lines from North Eveleigh. No mention is made of
the area's other great barriers like the Regent Street / Gibbons Street twin
pair and how this impacts on rail bus interchanges or Cleveland Street. Work
by the Redfern Waterloo Partnership Project explored a number of tunnel
options back in 2004. The new proposal does include a green link between
Redfern and Central using Railway land between Cleveland and Lawson Street
bridges to link the two ends of the proposal. Unless someone offers to build
over this part of the corridor covering it for a long park would be too
expensive so the illustration shows this as a path alongside the railway
line. 

It is very disappointing that after all these years of community engagement
with the RWA about the future of these sites and their planning controls
that the Government has now decided to disregard that outcome. This is from
a Government that came to power promising to return planning power back to
the community and in the New Planning System for NSW promising ground
breaking community participation in making strategic plans!

With the winding up of the RWA and SMDA and the move to UrbanGrowth NSW,
Redfern Waterloo has lost any ongoing community participation mechanisms in
these decisions. There is no longer a local government authority, no update
emails, letterboxed updates, no CEO to ring up and discuss your concerns and
no Ministerial Advisory Committees ensuring at least a quarterly update on
some of what was happening.

The Minister has said in his announcement that they "will be working with
the City of Sydney and all local residents in developing the plans for the
corridor." More likely is the statement on the UrbanGrowth Statement which
says "UrbanGrowth NSW will be reporting regularly to Government, and any
updates will be available on the website www.urbangrowthnsw.com.au. Any
formal community engagement will be subject to future announcements."

The new Central to Eveleigh Corridor information also sits on the Planning
Department's website under strategic planning. It is the first strategic
planning announcement after the White Paper and Metro Strategy exhibitions.
The New Planning System talks about the need for early community involvement
in strategic planning and the Minister needs to start the new process with
the communities around this announcement.

The introduction to the Community Participation section of the White Paper
(p44) says: Community participation in the preparation of plans and a vision
for their local areas represents a key change in the new planning system.
This means that the opportunity for the community to participate at the
start of the planning process and on an ongoing basis will be prioritised
and integral to setting the vision and ground rules for local areas. 

If the community is to have faith in the promised new ground breaking
community participation in making strategic plans then it needs to started
here and it needs to start now!

 

REDWatch is looking to organise a public meeting in the near future where
Government Representatives can explain the proposal in more details and deal
with questions from the community. Keep an eye on www.redwatch.org.au for
details. 

In July 2013 REDWatch held a roundtable on NIMBYs. A proposal like the
Central to Eveleigh Global Precinct Opportunity will bring out reactions
that might be considered NIMBY so have a look at REDWatch's NIMBY Discussion
Points <http://www.redwatch.org.au/govt/nsw/nps13/130704redwn/view> !  At
our next meeting on August 1st REDWatch will be looking at another topical
issue related to this announcement : Density
<http://www.redwatch.org.au/Events/130801redw> - Must it be high-rise?

 

Regards,

 

Geoff

Geoffrey Turnbull

Spokesperson

REDWatch

Ph Wk: (02) 8004 1490  Mob: 0418 457 392

email: mail at redwatch.org.au 

web: www.redwatch.org.au 

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