Ermington,where Victoria and Silverwater roads meet,could qualify as it has a Woolworths and regular buses;it will also get a light rail under stage two of the Parramatta light rail project. Mosman should expect to be included thanks to its shopping centre.
But it was not clear whether town centres that contain smaller supermarkets,such as Woolworths Metro or an IGA,would trigger the new planning controls.
“Woolworths Metro outlets vary in size and this type of supermarket will be discussed with councils as part of the proposed reforms,” the department said. It noted the City of Sydney defined a full-line supermarket as having gross floor area greater than 2500 square metres and a full range of goods.
In a draft submission,Randwick City Council urges the government to exclude Matraville from the program,along with all other E1 zones in the LGA “due to their narrow business offerings and/or based on sensitive environmental factors”.
The council estimates that even if E1 centres were excluded,the reforms could result in an extra 4480 dwellings within 800 metres of town centres and transport hubs in Randwick in five years – double its existing housing targets.
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When combined with additional homes from the government’s other changes to low-rise housing,the council says the extra dwellings would “clearly exceed” projected population growth to 2041. “However,it is acknowledged that there should be additional[housing] capacity to respond to changing socio-economic circumstances,” the submission says.
Canada Bay Council,which runs along the south side of the Parramatta River from Rhodes to Drummoyne,also urged the government not to apply the policy to E1 centres in Canada Bay.
Only three of these had a supermarket,but “council has not identified any of[them] as being suitable or appropriate for rezoning in any strategy or study”,the council’s submission said.
“Permitting four- to six-storey apartment buildings,either within these small neighbourhood centres or within the vicinity of these centres,is inconsistent with the existing and desired future character of these places.”
Sutherland Shire Council submitted a list of 51 locations,mostly small clusters of shops,where the controls should not apply.
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“Even where there is a supermarket,development can be problematic,” it said,giving the example of Bangor,which has a shopping mall on Menai Road and is surrounded by land zoned for low density. The working definition was “too arbitrary and will result in disputes at DA stage”,the council said.
Departmental documents explaining the changes say most residential land in the six-cities region is zoned for low-density,with 12 per cent zoned for medium-density and 2 per cent for high. But 60 per cent of those medium-density zones have controls that prevent shop-top housing and apartment buildings.
The government says this tranche of changes could create up to 110,000 additional homes across the six-city region by 2030.
Submissions on the proposed policy closed on Friday and the department,along with Planning and Public Spaces Minister Paul Scully,are due to appear at a budget estimates hearing on Tuesday.