Clover Moore: Raise your concerns to protect Waterloo

Email from Clover Moore

I need your help to protect Waterloo.

Waterloo is currently under threat by State Government plans for massive residential towers above the future metro station.

I am alarmed that the scale of development the Government is proposing will condemn people to substandard conditions and massively impact surrounding housing, existing parks, streets and open space. They are also failing to use this opportunity to deliver desperately needed social and affordable housing [1].

700 apartments are proposed but only 70 homes will be set aside for social housing and 35 for affordable rental units. And UrbanGrowth has only committed to providing affordable housing for ten years.

It seems the real focus is on maximising the financial returns from the sale of this public land rather than planning for the kind of area that people will want to live and work in over the coming decades.

Right now, the State Government is accepting submissions on this development and if enough of us raise concerns before 30 January, we can push for the project to be referred to the Independent Planning Commission, where our community can argue for an improved and more sustainable design at a public hearing.

We need to hold the Government to account over its complete disregard of proper planning processes and demand our city is designed with people at the centre – not commercial interests.  

Over the past 18 months, this Government has evicted social housing tenants from their homes in Millers Point to raise revenue [2], begun to tear down the Moore Park Stadium despite overwhelming community opposition [3], and overridden City planning controls to propose a 237 metre hotel and residential eyesore in an area with a 28 meter height limit. [4]

In Waterloo, the State Government has two different proposals for massive developments adjacent to each other – three towers ranging up to 29 storeys above the future Waterloo metro station and the redevelopment of the Waterloo Estate will include towers up to 40 storeys high and 7200 new homes.

We strongly believe these two proposals should be considered together so that our community can understand the combined impacts of these massive developments on local neighbours.

These sites are on public land and should only be used for public good. Given the housing crisis in New South Wales, any development should deliver more social and affordable housing on the site, permanently. 

As a community, we believe in keeping public lands in the hands of the public – not selling them off to the highest bidder.

I’m committed to working with you and all those affected by this proposed development, to fight for a design that delivers homes and amenity for our community.

Thanks for your support.

Signed,

Clover

[2] Last of the Millers Point and Sirius tenants hang on as the money now pours in, The Conversation, 2017

[3] By the state election, a quarter of the roof of Allianz Stadium will already be gone, Sydney Morning Herald, 2018

[4] 'Aesthetic disgrace': Proposed tower on casino site divides opinion, Sydney Morning Herald, 2018

Supporting Information

Clover has placed support material on her website at https://www.clovermoore.com.au/waterloometroquarter.

Raise your concerns to protect Waterloo

The Department of Planning and Environment is currently undertaking two separate consultations on its proposed development of the Metro Quarter.

The proposals include:

• Changes to planning controls that will allow for increased height and density on the site.

• Concept plans for 3 buildings up to 29 storeys in height over the new metro station.

If enough of us raise our concerns with the development, it is more likely the project will be considered by the Independent Planning Commission, where our community can use public hearings to argue for an improved design.

How do I submit my concerns?

You have until 30 January 2019 to submit your concerns to the Department.

Because the Department has split up the projects into separate consultations, it is important that you submit your concerns on both the webpages below. It doesn’t matter if your responses include the same information.

To make your submissions, click on the following links:

Changes to the planning controls: http://planspolicies.planning.nsw.gov.au/

Concept plans: http://www.majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index

Not sure what to say?

Your submission doesn’t need to be long and detailed.

Our team of planners have identified the concerns with the project. Write your submission in your own words, but feel free to include those concerns. [These issues are the content of the sample submission below].

REDWatch has been asked by some tenants to take the issues identified on Clovers website into a draft submission that people can use, either in making a submission through the planning portals or copy for a written submission. Below is the template:

Sample Submission based on the issues raised by Clover and her planners

Waterloo Metro Submission to both:

1) Waterloo Metro Quarter State Significant Precinct (SSP) Study Exhibition (planning controls): online submission via http://planspolicies.planning.nsw.gov.au/ or post to: Director - Urban Renewal, Department of Planning and Environment, GPO Box 39, SYDNEY, NSW 2001

2) Waterloo Metro Quarter Over Station Development State Significant Development Application SSD 18_9393 (the development application): online submission via http://www.majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/ or post to: Key Sites Assessments, Department of Planning and Environment, GPO Box 39, SYDNEY, NSW 2001.

Dear Department of Planning Assessment Officer

I wish to object to the Waterloo Metro Quarter SSP and SSD 18_9393.

I wish to object for the following reasons:

• By separating assessment of the Metro Quarter over station development and the Waterloo Estate development, the Department is failing to consider the obvious cumulative impacts of the projects, including density, congestion and amenity impacts like overshadowing. These applications must be assessed together.

• The Metro Quarter and the Waterloo Estate will triple the density of the area, making it one of the highest density precincts in Australia with 700 dwellings in the Metro Quarter and up to 7,200 new homes in the Waterloo Estate

• Of the 700 apartments proposed in the Metro Quarter, only 70 homes will be set aside for social housing, and 35 for affordable rental units. And the State Government’s development corporation, UrbanGrowth, is only committing to providing affordable housing for ten years.

• The Metro Quarter and Waterloo Estate sites are on public land and should exist for the public good. Given the housing crisis in New South Wales, any development should deliver more social and affordable housing on the site, permanently.

• The Metro Quarter and Waterloo Estate will introduce 4,300 additional vehicles in an already dense and congested urban setting. This congestion will be further impacted by WestConnex.

• Urban Growth has proposed 427 car parking spaces. Parking spaces are unnecessary and inappropriate in a development located directly above a metro station, because it encourages people to own and drive cars in an already congested part of our city. This is particularly undesirable when the dwelling are in such close proximity to public transport.

• It is currently the developer’s responsibility to partner with a community housing provider to deliver social and affordable homes. This should be the responsibility of Urban Growth.

• The current proposal includes only 15 percent low amenity open space that is accessible to the public. Urban Growth’s claim that there is 53 per cent open space is misleading, because the majority of this is made up of private rooftop gardens.

The overshadowing impacts of the Metro Quarter and Waterloo Estate should be assessed as a whole, not in isolation of each other.

Sincerely

Name:               _______________________________________________________________________

Include Name Organisation and Position if submission made on behalf of an organisation:

Address:           _______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Email Address: _______________________________________________________________________

I do / do not want my name published in the list of submitters on the department's website. If you wish to maintain your privacy in this submission process, you must 1) request your name be withheld from the list of submitters and not include any of your personal information in your submission or attachments.

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