City of Sydney's planning proposal for Waterloo South - 11 February

The City of Sydney (CoS) Council released its proposal for the planning controls to govern the proposed Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) redevelopment of Waterloo South on 10th February 2021. The Council proposal is part of the papers for the Transport, Heritage and Planning Committee on Monday 15 February 2021 where Councillors will consider the proposal from Council staff. The proposal is also considered by the Central Sydney Planning Committee (CSPC) at 5pm on Thursday 18 February 2021 before going to the Council Meeting on Monday 22 February and then to the Department of Planning Infrastructure and Environment for approval for public exhibition later this year. Below is some information on the proposal documents and the original Land and Housing Corporations proposal made public by the Council.

The City of Sydney (CoS) Council has released its proposal for the planning controls to govern the proposed Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) redevelopment of Waterloo South. The main Council document is Public Exhibition – Planning Proposal – Waterloo Estate (South) – Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012 Amendment, item 2. PDF 9 MB. You can see more information, including a fly through, on Council’s website at Planning proposal: Waterloo estate (south).

REDWatch has only just seen the documents so we are not in a position to make any assessment at present. The Council proposal seeks to deliver around the same number of housing units as LAHC, but it wants 20% of the 70% non-social housing to be affordable housing. It is seeking to deliver that by conditioning the planning proposal so that for LAHC to get the maximum number of units on the site it would need to meet Council’s affordable housing targets and other requirements. Council is also supporting dedicated “First Nations’ housing”.

To match the LAHC proposed yield, the Council plan has three high-rises to the south of the site, but the balance of the site is much lower than what was proposed by LAHC, and it covers a slightly larger land area with fewer apartments per building. Council says its proposal will deliver better street level amenity with less wind and almost three times the amount of deep soil plantings. The smaller park has shrunk in size but the sunlight access has improved. Council is proposing a different street layout, which it says will be more accessible, and is concentrating retail along a widened George Street. Council says it will not submit its proposal to the Department of Planning until it reaches agreement with LAHC over the provision of public infrastructure.

Council has also made public the LAHC proposal for Waterloo South submitted to Council and all LAHC’s supporting studies. CoS has used these LAHC materials to inform its proposal which is significantly different to the LAHC proposal in built form. The main LAHC document is Attachment B2 Planning Proposal Report - LaHC, item 2. PDF 10 MB

In all 67 documents have been placed on the Council’s meeting website including all the support studies undertaken by LAHC. At the end of this section, we have provided direct links to the documents.

The Council proposal is part of the papers for the Transport, Heritage and Planning Committee on Monday 15 February 2021 where Councillors will consider the proposal from Council staff. The proposal is also considered by the Central Sydney Planning Committee (CSPC) at 5pm on Thursday 18 February 2021. Community members can register to address both the committee meeting and the CSPC in line with the Guidelines for speakers at council committees.

The proposal will finally be considered at the Council Meeting on Monday 22 February, however community members are not able to address the Council meeting.

With these documents becoming public, it is now possible to see where Council and LAHC differ in their approaches to planning for the site. These areas of differences / contention will obviously be areas that the community might want to comment upon at the Council Committee meeting, CSPC or when the proposal is formally exhibited in many months’ time.

It is important to understand that the current process is about setting the planning controls governing land use, height and the amount of floor space allowed. The proposal also includes a proposed Development Control Plan that would guide final building design.

The successful tenderer for the development, which will need to prepare separate Development Applications to be considered against the finalised planning controls, would prepare the final designs.

The current short Council consideration window is to agree on Council’s recommendation to the NSW Government’s Department of Planning Infrastructure and Environment (DPIE) as to what should be publically exhibited for feedback.

DPIE then examines the Council’s proposal and determines what will be publically exhibited. This usually takes some time. For example the LAHC Build to Rent Proposal in Redfern was considered by Council at the end of June 2020, but it has yet to emerge from DPIE for public exhibition. The Waterloo South proposal is larger and more complex that the Redfern Proposal, so it is unlikely to have a quicker transit.

Any of the bodies – Council, CSPC or DPIE – can make changes, so what Council officers currently propose may not be identical to what the public might see when the proposal comes back for public exhibition. Following the exhibition, Council will again assess the proposal and submissions, before recommending a proposal to DPIE. DPIE will do a final assessment and if it agrees, the new planning controls for the Waterloo South site will become planning law.

Council has held briefings for some key Waterloo tenants and other stakeholders. Groundswell it a meeting with Council last week has also requested briefings for local NGOs, the full Waterloo Redevelopment Group and for the community vis a REDWatch meeting.

The Council Documents

The full list of Council documents can be found on its meeting website here. Below we have provided links to these documents sorted in a different way to make them a little easier to find.

The Council proposal is shown below with Council’s support documents (Attachments A, C & D)

Public Exhibition – Planning Proposal – Waterloo Estate (South) – Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012 Amendment, item 2. PDF 9 MB

Attachment A Planning Proposal – Waterloo Estate (South) – Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012 Amendment, item 2. PDF 15 MB

Attachment A1(a) Urban Design Study Part 1 – Waterloo Estate (South) – City of Sydney, item 2. PDF 15 MB

Attachment A1(b) Urban Design Study Part 2 – Waterloo Estate (South) – City of Sydney, item 2. PDF 6 MB

Attachment A2 Environmental Wind Assessment – Waterloo Estate (South), item 2. PDF 3 MB

Attachment A3 Retail Review – Waterloo Estate (South) – City of Sydney, item 2. PDF 965 KB

Attachment A4 Community Facilities Peer Review - Waterloo Estate (South), item 2. PDF 15 MB

Attachment C Draft Waterloo Estate (South) Design Guide, item 2. PDF 5 MB

Attachment D Draft Sydney Development Control Plan 2012 Amendment – Waterloo Estate (South), item 2. PDF 7 MB

Interaction between LAHC and Council on public benefit (Attachment E)

Attachment E Letter of Offer for Public Benefit, item 2. PDF 295 KB

Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) Proposal Documents (Attachments B)

Attachment B Land and Housing Corporation Waterloo South Planning Proposal Request, item 2. PDF 111 KB – Note by Council about Land and Housing Documents

Attachment B1 Planning Proposal Cover Letter - LaHC, item 2. PDF 162 KB

Attachment B2 Planning Proposal Report - LaHC, item 2. PDF 10 MB (Main LAHC Document)

LAHC proposal Support Documents and Studies

The documents below are the attachments to the LAHC proposal above. While numbered differently by Council, the documents below are in the order of the LAHC main study attachments.

Attachment B3 Location of Responses to CoS Checklist and Study Requirements – LaHC, item 2. PDF 616 KB

Attachment B4 Proposed LEP Maps – LaHC, item 2. PDF 4 MB

Attachment B5 Proposed Draft Development Control Plan – LaHC, item 2. PDF 2 MB

Attachment B6 Consistency with Strategic and Statutory Plans – LaHC, item 2. PDF 382 KB

Attachment B7(a) Urban Design and Public Domain Study 1 – LaHC, item 2. PDF 18 MB

Attachment B7(b) Urban Design and Public Domain Study 2 – LaHC, item 2. PDF 15 MB

Attachment B7(c) Urban Design and Public Domain Study 3 – LaHC, item 2. PDF 14 MB