[North Eveleigh] Season’s Greetings / Latest news on Redfern Eveleigh and Waterloo

Tue Dec 20 16:00:45 AEDT 2022

Dear REDWatch members, supporters and agencies,

Season’s Greetings from REDWatch

Lord Mayor’s Letter to Transport Minister on Redfern Eveleigh Welcomed

Explorer Street Eveleigh Rezoning taken by State Government

Locomotive Workshop Heritage display now visible

Use of Innovation Plaza as external Brewdog pub seating – Exhibition until 20 January

Innovation Plaza – a planning shemozzle

Council Supplementary Submission on the Large Erecting Shop

Redfern North Eveleigh Submissions - too many for DPE system?

Waterloo Renewal Project Update

DCJ Housing – Housing Practice Standards

Please note – this email contains hyperlinks. This means that if you see a blue underlined word or phrase that you can click on it and go directly to a document or to get more information.

Season’s Greetings from REDWatch

With Christmas and the New Year almost upon us we wish all our members, supporters and agency representatives our best wishes for the holiday season. We hope you get a chance to relax and unwind over this holiday period.

With a state election in March it promises to be a busy start to 2023. The NSW Government is beavering away trying to push things through before the election.

Since our last update Government has taken planning control of public housing it proposes to redevelop at Explorer Street Eveleigh from Council. The NSW Government has also put on exhibition a Modification in lieu of a Council DA for use of Innovation Plaza at South Eveleigh for external seating for up to 220 people in conjunction with the new pub in Bays 1 & 2 North. More on these and some other news below.

Lord Mayor’s Letter to Transport Minister on Redfern Eveleigh Welcomed

Connectivity at Redfern Station and across the rail corridor between North and South Eveleigh has been a major focus for REDWatch and other resident groups over many years. Following discussion with City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore over a number of areas of concern to REDWatch we were pleased to receive a copy of a Lord Mayor letter to the Minister for Transport on Redfern Eveleigh Connectivity<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/northeveleigh/TfNSW/bridge/221216cos/view>.
With a decision yet to be made as to if the new Southern Concourse will offer barrier-free access across the new bridge, Clover’s letter requests such access. REDWatch is keen to make sure that there would be no risk of people being fined $200 for just using the bridge to cross from one side to the other.
The letter also asks “NSW Government to commit to providing an active transport bridge across the railway tracks using the proceeds of the sale of Australian Technology Park. This should be delivered as part of the redevelopment of land in North and South Eveleigh, and not delayed indefinitely.”
Prior to the sale of the ATP the ATP had publicly committed to paying for some of the cost of the bridge and developer contributions were collected towards its early delivery by the Redfern Waterloo Authority.
REDWatch welcomes this letter from the Lord Mayor and urges everyone to maintain pressure on these issues heading into the NSW Election.
Explorer Street Eveleigh Rezoning taken by State Government
The rezoning of Explorer Street Eveleigh has been taken from Council and it will be handled by the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE). The announcement was made in The Daily Telegraph story NSW Government to rezone 10 areas to fast track approvals for 70,000 new homes<https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/nsw-government-to-rezone-10-areas-to-fast-track-approvals-for-70000-new-homes/news-story/abcd5654e96a54f897eeeaa0f230af13?amp&nk=a0e41f4f40469f88c308a8158315d8c9-1670198545> and in a media release you can read on the REDWatch website at Explorer Street Eveleigh Rezoning taken over by State Government<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Explorer/221205dpe>.
The announcement was primarily about new rezoning pathways<http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/rezoning-pathways> being introduced to allow the NSW Government to approve rezoning for “proponents proposing more than 1,000 homes in metropolitan areas”.
The Endeavour Street site in Eveleigh is a site flagged for redevelopment by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC). LAHC has previously announced its proposal as having 430 dwellings including up to 120 social houses on this site. On the face of it, Endeavour Street would not meet the criteria for the new state government planning pathway.
The Endeavour Street proposal has either been snuck into the announcement even though the site does not meet the size requirement, or it means that LAHC now expects the site to deliver 1,000 units or that the site qualified because LAHC is delivering more than 1,000 units across all its metropolitan sites.
LAHC and City of Sydney have locked horns over the height and densities at Elizabeth Street Redfern and Waterloo South. The City in both cases has produced its own planning proposal rather than progress the one proposed by LAHC. In Redfern LAHC has blamed the lower yield at Redfern for not progressing Build to Rent on that site. In Waterloo the Planning Minister stepped in and removed Council as the Planning Proposal Authority (PPA) and instead made a section of DPE responsible. While it was the City’s proposal that went to Gateway assessment, a tweak by the DPE PPA saw the yield increase by 10% over the Council plan. By throwing Eveleigh in with the other sites LAHC can put its own plan up without having to worry about Council modifying it. LAHC’s 2020 options at Explorer Street had heights up to 16 storeys in an area that in 2006 the Redfern Waterloo Authority zoned to stay at its existing height and floor space.
REDWatch does not support rezoning being taken away from Council. The NSW Government looks at sites in isolation and not in the context of the surrounding communities and wider City planning. The City of Sydney has one of the best resourced Planning Departments in Australia and it has the skills to undertake rezoning in a manner that delivers the growth required by the NSW Government but in a way that better fits with the surrounding areas.
The disagreements between LAHC and Council come back to the NSW Government insistence that LAHC redevelopments deliver social housing at no cost to the state government.  This involves LAHC opposing the requirement to deliver affordable housing pushed by the Council and having to follow a financing model that requires public land to be sold for the densest possible development to maximise the delivery around 30% of a redevelopment as Social Housing.
The LAHC Eveleigh webpage<https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/land-and-housing-corporation/greater-sydney/eveleigh> has not been updated since the announcement so there are more questions than answers.
The December 12, 2022, Council Meeting unanimously passed the City of Sydney Council Resolution on Explorer Street Eveleigh<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Explorer/221212cos>.
Locomotive Workshop Heritage display now visible
We have been anxiously awaiting the opening of Brewdog pub in Bays 1 & 2 North at South Eveleigh so we could finally see what has happened with the display of the heritage equipment in this bay and all the tools and other material that Mirvac were required to protect and display.
The pub opened on Friday 2 December 2022 and the heritage displays offer the backdrop to the new pub. We encourage people to go and have a look at the displays. While we have nothing against a Christmas or New Year drink at the pub, the development consents make it clear that members of the public can access the area to view the heritage displays without needing to feel obliged to buy food or drink at the pub.
There is supposed to be a gap between seating and the heritage displays to allow people to circulate and view the heritage. There were a few teething problems in terms of seating being closer to heritage items than it was supposed to be, but hopefully as the bar staff get the promised heritage briefings, displays get tweaked, QR codes get added to items and as heritage tours start, these problems will be sorted out. Another heritage display area above the loading dock is not yet open.
REDWatch, residents and heritage groups made sure they got some good heritage trade-offs from Mirvac when Mirvac insisted on putting a loading dock into the end of these heritage bays.
The displays are impressive, and we are told that the light displays at night are also well worth seeing. We will wait and see how the combination of a pub and heritage displays work out over time, but at the opening lots of patrons seemed interested in their surroundings and were taking photos.
Use of Innovation Plaza as external Brewdog pub seating – Exhibition until 20 January
If you have been to the pub in Bays 1 & 2 North, you will notice that there is seating in Innovation Plaza even though the DA for this seating has yet not been approved. The pub is operating on a temporary basis in accordance with the post-Covid provisions of State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 which permit temporary outdoor dining<https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Policy-and-Legislation/COVID19-response/Alfresco-restart-package/Outdoor-dining> in areas across Sydney until 31 December 2023.
The approval for permanent use of Innovation Plaza for this use<https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/mod-11-use-seating-innovation-plaza> is currently on exhibition as a State Significant Development Modification (Mod 11) for the Locomotive Workshops rather than a DA through Council. The long term use proposal is on exhibition until January Friday 20 January 2023.
Patrons and neighbours will have the opportunity over Christmas and New Year to form a view on the application for this long-term use and make a submission<https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/mod-11-use-seating-innovation-plaza> through the major projects' website.
Innovation Plaza – a planning shemozzle
State and Council planning are always in a complex dance when the NSW Government decides that the Department of Planning (DPE) should make the big planning decisions rather than Council. In the case of South Eveleigh, DPE handle the decisions about the redevelopment of the Locomotive Workshop but leave the use DA to the City of Sydney Council.
In the case of Innovation Plaza, Mirvac wanted to put built structures and seating into Innovation Plaza, so they put a State Significant Development Application to DPE which was exhibited as Mod 7. REDWatch objected in our REDWatch Submission on Loco Mod 7 encroachment on Public Space<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/atp/loco/210201redw/view> on the grounds that the public space is presumably protected by easements and positive covenants put in place by UrbanGrowth. REDWatch approached the Council planners to see if Council would enforce the easement that was enforceable only by them. We were advised that Council supported such activation so would not enforce the easement.
In the end the State Significant Development over-rode the protections put in place by UrbanGrowth and the public recreation zone land zoning. The approval permitted a scaled back use of Innovation plaza for seating and some removable structures. The final use approval was to be made by the relevant consent authority which would normally be Council as it was for the operation of the pub.

It turns out that Council could not deal with the DA because, as the current application explains: “Innovation Plaza is located in a public recreation zone where the proposed food and drink premises use is prohibited and in which the City of Sydney does not have the ability to approve the proposal or a footway dining application. The NSW Department of Planning and Environment (The Department) has the ability to approve the proposed use in Innovation Plaza under section 4.38 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act). Accordingly, the application is made as a modification to SSD 8517 rather than as a DA to the City of Sydney”.
So, rather than a DA being assessed by the Council’s planning panel, we have a further modification to the SSDA because only DPE has the power to over-ride the prohibited use restriction, which is in the land use zoning that DPE decided was OK to over-ride when it dealt with the earlier Modification.
Irrespective of what your views are about on street dining and street drinking or the use of Innovation Plaza for such purposes, there are questions about what purpose do “protections” like land use zoning, easements and positive covenants really provide to the community if Council planners don’t seek to enforce them and state government over-rides them. The winner out of all this is likely to be Mirvac South Eveleigh and maybe its tenant, Brewdog pub, which look likely to get an extra 220 pub seats in a public recreation zone which it is not paying rent on. It’s a good deal if you can get it!
As we have said in the previous section, people have the opportunity over Christmas and New Year to form a view on this use of Innovation Plaza and to make a submission<https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/mod-11-use-seating-innovation-plaza> through the major projects' website until January Friday 20 January 2023.
Council Supplementary Submission on the Large Erecting Shop

While on Mirvac South Eveleigh which is also planning the redevelopment of the Large Erecting Shop, following discussion at a Council meeting, the City of Sydney made a Supplementary Submission on Large Erecting Shop Rezoning Proposal<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/southeveleigh/large/lesdev/221124cos/view>. The submission reflects the motion that was accepted at the Council meeting on 24 November 2022 which is attached to the submission. The motion mirrors concern raised by the Rail Tram and Bus Union Retired Members Association (RTBU RMA) and REDWatch about the need to retain some active heritage to the site.

You can read more about the Large and in this flyer put together by the RTBU RMA to Save the Large Erecting Shed Flyer<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/southeveleigh/large/lesdev/221129rtburma/view>.
Redfern North Eveleigh Submissions - too many for DPE system?

Redfern North Eveleigh Paint Shop Precinct submitters might be surprised to know that DPE only managed to get all the submissions up on its website on 2nd December even though they had supposedly been posted on-line a few weeks earlier.  The new file<https://shared-drupal-s3fs.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/master-test/fapub_pdf/NSW+Planning+Portal+Exhibitions/00_Combined+submissions.pdf> is 247MB and 1170 pages, which is almost 3 times larger than the public submissions initially posted online by DPE when it advised that all submissions were made public in early November.

It was reported to REDWatch that the REDWatch submission was not in the submissions file, and we followed this up with DPE to find out why. In the process we realised a lot of other submissions were also missing.

The REDWatch submission is in the latest release, but we have no way of knowing if everything is finally there. Maybe the Sydney Morning Herald can find something of interest in the rest of the submissions that were not public when it did its article on the North Eveleigh submissions.

Waterloo Renewal Project Update
Tenants in Waterloo are just receiving in the mail the Waterloo Newsletter December 2022<https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/547875/December-2022-Waterloo-newsletter-English.pdf> which includes a Waterloo Renewal Project Update. LAHC has included details of the four shortlisted consortiums vying to redevelop Waterloo Estate, which had previously only been made available to readers of the Australian Financial Review – for further information see Mirvac, Lendlease, Stockland, Frasers shortlisted for Waterloo South<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Waterloo/lahc22-23/221116redwws> on the REDWatch website.
The LAHC updates says, “The ideal renewal partner will not only deliver new buildings and infrastructure but will also collaborate with government and the community to support residents through change and create a vibrant and mixed inner-city community”. How a vibrant and mixed inner-city community is guaranteed is of great interest to REDWatch and has been among the areas we have covered in recent LAHC consultations about the outcomes the community wants from the redevelopment, which is also referenced in the update. LAHC has indicated that it is still interested in people’s thoughts and ideas about topics like placemaking, community facilities, health and wellbeing, and transport.
In the lead up to releasing the relocations strategy for Waterloo in the first half of 2023, LAHC is also starting to talk more openly about relocations before the relocations start in 2024. This includes emphasising that “only some residents in Waterloo South will be relocated in the first stages (in the first couple of years)”. LAHC is also saying that “relocations could be into vacant properties in the surrounding area, into new homes at the Metro Quarter and Elizabeth Street, Redfern when complete, or at the Waterloo Estate as new social homes become available”.
DCJ Housing – Housing Practice Standards
On the final page of the Waterloo Project Update – DCJ Housing is publicising its new Housing Practice Standards. These set out what tenants should expect from the DCJ Housing staff they deal with.
The new DCJ Housing standards have been adopted across the state and aim to set standards that tenants, and staff should expect. DCJ Housing staff have been trained in the practice standards and they are now being publicised to public tenants. The six standards are:

  1.  Respectful service, we put people at the centre of everything we do
  2.  Culture is ever present
  3.  Language impacts on practice
  4.  Continual learning and critique leads to improved practice
  5.  Trusting relationships create positive change
  6.  Integrity and accountability are essential in every aspect of our work
You can download the factsheet about how the standards should be implemented from http://bitly.ws/xDsZ .
The Customer Service approach of agencies towards public housing tenants has been long complained about. It has been a focus in the Waterloo human services action plan. While all agencies have their own customer service policies, they are very similar in how staff should treat tenants / customers / clients / patients and how tenants should respect and treat the people that work in government and non-government agencies.
The DCJ’s Housing Practice Standards are new, and they can also be a guide to how tenants should be treated by any agency they deal with. The standards are well worth a read and tenants should base their expectations of how they will be treated on such standards.
Regards,

Geoff
Geoffrey Turnbull
REDWatch Co-Spokesperson
Ph Wk: (02) 8004 1490  Mob: 0418 457 392
email: spokesperson at redwatch.org.au<mailto:spokesperson at redwatch.org.au>
web: www.redwatch.org.au<http://www.redwatch.org.au/>
FB: www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/<http://www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/>

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