Harold Park - Frequently asked questions
What role does the community play in the planning process for Harold Park?
When the City of Sydney was charged with preparing planning controls to guide the future of the Harold Park site, we committed to a thorough program of community consultation.
We undertook two phases of community consultation. These consultations were not required by planning law, but were vital in ensuring the community’s involvement with the planning process.
Early consultations with the community helped determine opportunities and strengths of the site. During the first phase of consultation, over 200 people attended our public meeting in September 2009 or provided submissions through other channels. This feedback was then used to develop our draft Urban Design Study which was presented to the community in our second phase of consultation in February 2010.
Feedback on from the second round of consultation was then used to develop the draft planning controls for the site. The draft planning controls were placed on public exhibition in November and December 2010 to allow members of the community to make formal submissions on the proposed planning controls. Following consideration of the matters raised during public exhibition Council and the Central Sydney Planning Committee endorsed the planning controls for adoption.
How has community feedback been incorporated into the planning process?
Community views and ideas have had a strong influence on what the City is proposing for the Harold Park site.
WHAT THE COMMUNITY SAID DURING PHASES 1 AND 2 OF CONSULTATION |
WHAT WE DID IN THE PLANNING CONTROLS. |
|---|---|
| A significant part of the site should be public open space | The Planning Agreement will require the site’s owner to dedicate 3.8ha of land for public open space. This is at least 35% of the open space and can accommodate playing fields, gardens, cycle paths and new trees and plants. The amount of public open space will be equivalent to 7 Foley Parks or 8 Hinsby Parks. |
| Avoid a ‘gated community’ | Our proposed designs ensure public access to the site, and create new cycling and walking connections through the site to local parks, and public transport. Potential uses of the open space will activate the site and could accommodate playing fields, BBQs, and a playground. |
| Native wildlife and natural features must be protected | A potential cliff edge park along the eastern escarpment creates a natural biodiversity corridor protecting native wildlife including the Superb Fairy Wren. |
| The heritage tram sheds must be protected | The tram sheds are to be listed as a heritage item and will be adapted to allow for a mix of community, retail and commercial uses, ensuring this local historic treasure is activated and maintained. The Planning Agreement will ensure that 500m2 of floor space in the Tram Sheds will be given to council, free of cost, for community uses. |
| Avoid high density development and high rise buildings | We have worked to propose a mix of housing types which reflect the local neighbourhood and the diversity of housing needs. The site could incorporate apartment buildings of between 3 and 8 storeys. The urban renewal of the site will make an important and necessary contribution to the City's dwelling target. Meeting the target by providing higher density development on infill sites, such as Harold Park, is preferable to redeveloping established residential areas. The height of buildings is considered reasonable as it is equivalent to the height of buildings above the nearby cliffs and balances the need to provide housing with the provision of public open space. |
| Any development to demonstrate environmental best practice. | We have created a framework for the site that supports best practice Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD), including opportunities for water sensitive urban design and energy efficient buildings. Car sharing schemes can be supported on the site and better connections for cyclists and to local public transport will encourage residents to not use their cars. A potential biodiversity corridor provides a wildlife sanctuary in the heart of the inner city, and the local canal will also be protected. To further encourage sustainability, the maximum allowable development at the site can only be realised if current BASIX targets for energy and potable water use are exceeded by 25% of the target score. |
| Impacts from extra motor vehicle movements must be minimised. | Your feedback about traffic and parking issues in the area has been received at both phases of community consultation. The Harold Park Transport, Traffic and Access Study assessed the potential traffic impacts from the development and concluded traffic impacts would not be significant. Traffic increases in local streets near the site would be approximately +8.7% during the morning peak hour and +6.7% in the afternoon peak hour. The DCP requires more detailed traffic impact studies with individual development applications. |
More information on how Council responded to the issues raised during public exhibition can be found in the report to Council’s Planning Development and Transport Committee meeting on 7 February 2011 and in the Summary of Submissions at Attachment D to that report.
Why is Council rezoning ‘open space’?
The site is currently owned by the NSW Harness Racing Club and the Paceway has been in their ownership for over 100 years. The site is not public land. Although the site has been zoned ‘open space’, the zoning does not require the land to be publicly accessible and except for access to the grandstand on race days there is no public access to the site.
The planning controls and the planning agreement for the site allow for at least 35% publicly accessible open space.
Why should there be more housing in Glebe?
Sydney has a significant housing affordability problem due to the under supply of new housing and ever increasing demand from population growth. To meet this demand the State Government has set housing targets for local governments. The City of Sydney’s target is to provide 61,000 new dwellings by 2036 under the new Sydney Metropolitan Plan, which is comparable to the housing target Council adopted under the Sustainable Sydney 2030 Strategy.
Large urban renewal sites such as Harold Park present an important opportunity for new housing and for future generations to be able to live and work close to the city. Renewal of such sites will ensure that providing new housing will not impact on our important inner city heritage areas or result in environmentally unsustainable housing developments on the fringe of Sydney. Furthermore, the site’s proximity to light rail and buses reduces potential traffic impacts to the local areas.
How many new homes will be created? How many people do you expect to live in any redevelopment?
Depending on the mix of land uses and the types and sizes of units, planning controls allow for about 1250 new dwellings, which would be about 2300 new residents.
Will there be any affordable housing on site?
The Planning Agreement will require the dedication of 1000m2 of land for the provision of at least 50 affordable housing units on the site.
Why can’t Council purchase the site?
Council is committed to providing additional residential and worker capacity within the City’s urban renewal areas. To contribute to this Council has rezoned the site for housing and mixed use development.
Rezoning the site for a mix of uses and development will create benefits for all stakeholders: the community will be provided with new publicly accessible open space, the tram sheds will be conserved and access to light rail and adjacent parks will be improved; much needed housing will be provided for Sydney and its future generations; and the site owner will be able to support the harness racing industry and protect regional jobs.
Disclaimer
The comments provided on this page relate to the Planning Proposal and Development Control Plan which were endorsed by Council and the CSPC in February 2011.
Last Updated: Thursday 10 March, 2011