‘No need for overdevelopment’: Labor, Liberal councillors united in opposition to apartment towers

‘No need for overdevelopment’: Labor, Liberal councillors united in opposition to apartment towers

‘No need for overdevelopment’: Labor, Liberal councillors united in opposition to apartment towers


By Andrew Taylor
November 28, 2021 — 5.00am
===
Labor and Liberal councillors have criticised plans to build two 10-storey apartment towers in Bondi Junction, as congestion and overdevelopment loom as flashpoints in council elections next week.

Seventy-three apartments are proposed for the site on Oxford Street, near Centennial Park, which planning documents say will renew the western end of Bondi Junction and create a “key visual marker”.


An artist’s impression of apartment towers proposed for Oxford Street in Bondi Junction.CREDIT:STARGATE PROPERTY

Developer Elia Leis said the $42 million project, which also includes ground-floor retail, would offer a range of apartment types and “will certainly add to the supply of housing stock in the area”.

The issue of housing affordability in Sydney was “more of a macro-policy issue, and we do not feel we can resolve this alone in one housing development project”, he said.

In contrast, Lindi Glass, spokeswoman for community group Save West Bondi Junction, said the apartments in the proposed towers would offer harbour views, but not improve housing affordability in the area.

“They will not be purchased by nurses, firemen or teachers,” she said. “They will not give relief to renters and young people.”

RELATED ARTICLE


Exclusive
Public housing
NSW to lose 3360 affordable homes: See which suburbs get hit the hardest

The apartment complex is being developed by Westgate BJ Pty Ltd, a company whose directors and shareholders are Igal and Elia Leis, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Mr Leis said the project included public domain works to improve footpaths, lighting, street trees and the safety of public areas as well as a “public plazette” around an existing mature Norfolk Pine.

The site is bounded by busy roads and opposite the Waverley Bus Depot, which in the past has been speculated as a target for property development.

Ms Glass said the apartment towers would destroy a local heritage area and overshadow Oxford Street, “creating wind tunnels like the ones further east on the street”.

Ms Glass also criticised the planning process under which changes were made to local planning rules to accommodate the development.

The state government in 2019 approved an increase in maximum height and floor space ratio controls for the site to “support urban renewal”, a Planning Department spokesman said.

More than 570,000 new homes have been approved in NSW in the past decade, with 194,000 more homes planned for delivery by 2026.

“Planning alone can’t solve housing affordability, but we’re driving the biggest reforms to the planning system in decades to unlock more housing supply,” the spokesman said.

RELATED ARTICLE


Sydney councils
‘We are essentially full’: Councillors unite to oppose luxury housing for seniors

Waverley Liberal councillor Angela Burrill said the apartment towers were an overdevelopment and would breach height limits, which were more than doubled to 36 metres over the opposition of residents and the council.

“The site is in a high traffic area and can only increase congestion already experienced locally,” she said.

Cr Burrill said a “huge amount” of apartments had been built in Waverley Council in the past five years, meeting housing targets “so there was no need for the overdevelopment of this site”.

“Certainly residents’ voices, impacts on congestion and density as well as heritage should factor into decisions on increasing heights that allow these large apartment blocks,” she said.

RELATED ARTICLE


Planning
'No regard for design and beauty': Why Bondi Junction is an eyesore

Waverley Labor councillor Paula Masselos said overdevelopment, affordable housing and population growth were major concerns for voters who will elect a new council on December 4.

She said the proposal showed a “total lack of concern” about its negative impacts on the community and “stress it places on already overtaxed infrastructure”.

“Feeder schools have already said they are full and cannot take any more students, while Oxford Street is already gridlocked,” she said.

Cr Masselos said the apartment towers would also undo efforts by local mayors to protect Centennial Park from the impact of private developments.

“This building is visible from the centre of the park, which goes against the charter of the park that promotes views of the sky to the horizon – not high-rise buildings,” she said.

But Mr Leis said the project did not “directly impact” on any neighbouring residents or encroach on the heritage area or Centennial Park.

Mr Leis said Bondi Junction was an established town centre with good public transport links, access to park and beaches as well as shops, schools and medical services.

“The site was presented to us by a local agent who highlighted the merits of the location for residential housing and held the view that this end of Oxford Street was also in need of some revitalisation,” he said.

Save