UPDATE ON HAROLD PARK MASTERPLAN
The City of Sydney Council recently received a set of Development Applications (D/2011/1311-2&1298-9) from Mirvac for the first two precincts on the Harold Park site and subsequently invited comment from the community at large with a deadline of 28 September for submissions.
To assist in forming its views, the Society's Harold Park Working Party, assembled from members living close to the site on all sides, met with Mirvac on Wednesday, 7 September, to hear about the Masterplan. For its part, Mirvac invited residents to an Information Night and Exhibition from 5:00-8.00pm on Tuesday, 13 September at the Forest Lodge Primary School, Ross Street and this was well attended by community and Society members.
Broadly the proposals for precincts 1 and 2 appear to conform to what has already been approved, that is, there is little change from the plans previously agreed by Council. There are some aspects of the current proposals the Society supports. These include the quantity of Public Open Space and Affordable Housing, and the inclusion of terrace-style apartments at ground level with direct access to the street, so the apartment blocks are less alienating and the likelihood of street life is increased. We encourage members to look at the plans for themselves (on the City of Sydney website) and also at the scale model of the entire site on display at Town Hall House, 456 Kent Street (Monday-Friday, 8.00am-6.00 pm).
These are some of the issues the Society considers as areas of concern but members will have their own concerns based on how much they expect to be affected.
- The Society continues to believe there should be a maximum of six storeys over underground parking. Those buildings designed to be at the maximum permitted eight storeys are still considered too high as they will rise above the top of the cliff.
- The amount of parking, although it is at the maximum required by the City's parking code, is in the Society’s view, not enough for the number of people likely to occupy the site. One option open to Mirvac to exceed the City's parking requirements.
- The new intersection proposed as the major access route for the site, on the Crescent opposite Minogue Crescent, is not scheduled to be installed until after the completion of the first two precincts. Because of the problems of access, especially the need to improve access for Forest Lodge, this development should be brought forward to coincide with their construction.
- As soon as the site is prepared the City should proceed with the landscaping of the 3.8 ha of Open Space and the construction of the allotted affordable housing (which is closest to Ross Street).
- The City should complete and implement the proposed management plan for the Hill (between Harold Park and Jubilee Park Station) and the proposed Open Space on the Crescent, North of the site.
- The Society supports the proposal that Mirvac formally accept the offer of $10 m from the Lifetime Care and Support Authority toward the restoration of the Tramsheds and moves ahead with community consultations about this facility.
At the time of writing the Society was in the process of developing its submission to the Council covering these and other points. The submission will be accessible on our website in early October. We urge members to acquaint themselves with the issues and make submissions to the Council to ensure the views of the Glebe community are well represented.
15 September 2011
5 comments. Please add yours.
I notice that there are no more comments on this issue since 2011 and please correct me if I am wrong. As a former Society member I have just come back and am appalled at the scale and size and look of the Mirvac development in the old Harold Park raceway. I know that the society will have had a great deal to say about this already but just on traffic and parking alone unless council acts I can see that the Crescent and its approaches up into Glebe and via Wigram Road and down into the City West Link and Johnston Street will become a nightmare. When I visited the Mirvac site today the salesman went on about the four lane road… what!!! half of it is a wide goat track of a narrow congested road from the roundabout to Johnstone Street followed by a few hundred yards of four lane with a major choke point at the rail bridge It is already congested during peak periods. Is the council being challenged/engaged/ criticized into doing anything about the traffic and parking management problems arising from the scale of this ugly, out of character, crowded and terrible development.
We are residents of Toxteth Rd and are very concerned about the increase in car movements if Maxwell Road is used as an access point for the Harold Park development. The parking situation and car movements on our street and surrounding streets is already at capacity Monday to Friday with resident, office workers, high school and preschool parking and traffic. There already is a need for restricted parking across the Toxteth Estate. The historic significance of Toxteth Estate will also be compromised creating rat runs for the 1700 residences planned for the site. The beauty and uniqueness of this area was due to being on the Glebe Point and having no flow through traffic. We urge you to highlight these concerns in your submission as we, neighbours and friends will do.
I will be trying to contact a Member as you've suggested and yes we have every intention of letting council know our concerns. Please do make note of this in the submission as you have stated.
The two of us were not the only people concerned (and I think that is putting it lightly) about this new access point. This is a significant change and sorry but we are not stupid people and we did go through those initial plans with a fine tooth comb (so to speak) we just don't have time to be following every little detail. And yes we rely on the Glebe Society to do these things. I am furious that this has happened and very upset that access has been granted. I can't beieve no one objected. Frankly if they didn't object then that is down right inertia. I am only sorry I have just found out or I would have been very vocal earlier but of course they snuck it in didn't they. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I don't live in Arcadia Street or Toxteth Road either but the people in Arcadia at that end …………….well it is not ok to do this.
The Toxteth has been established for many many years and it is not ok to disturb it this way. It has a lot of history, is relatively peaceful and a lovely area to walk in and around. It is an historic area that is going to be damaged. What is being done is no ok in my opinion. Also, the school is erecting a parking lot and now they are wanting to impose the over develoed Harold Park into the Toxteth area as well.
I really wish the Glebe Society had been more vocal about this. I just can't believe it go through without objection. I go onto the Society website every month or so just to keep abreast and noticed no comment about this change what so ever.
Thank you very much for taking the trouble to reply to my first email.
Thanks for your comments. Yours is the first mention of a concern about the Maxwell Road entry and we will make note of this as we continue work on the Society's submission to meet the Council deadline at the end of September. You will note that we posted an update on 16th September on this website regards the Society's work in this regard and we also stressed that Members of the Glebe Society, as well as any local resident, who have particular concerns about aspects of the development should also make submissions in response to the DAs – the more submissions the stronger the impact of objections and the case for change. If you would like to speak to a member of the Management Committee check your latest Glebe Society Bulletin for contact details.
Mairead Browne.
We went to the MIRVAC do on Wedneday evening. We were taken by complete surprise to find that there was now going to be access from Maxwell Road into the development. The initial plans showed no such access and it seems that this has snuck in at the next phase of the DA process. There were a number of residents there who were also taken aback when they realised what had been done and two commented to us that they did not think that access was to be from Maxwell
The access is provided for 50 to 100 dwellings (the number was changing all time, depending on who one was speaking with.)
Surely people who reside in the Toxteth Estate and surrounds must be very concerned.
Why didn't the society object to this? My understanding was that access from Maxwell was not on and in fact was part of the conditions of the development. The impact will be significant. 15 cars every hour we were told. That equates to a car every 4 minutes.
Also the residents in Arcadia are going to be bombarded. It's one thing to allow a development this large (1250 residences) but it's a different matter when fairly major changes are made in a way that doesn't allow for debate and comment yet the impact of this change is very significant.
I am really surprised the Society didn't alert residents to this change.