Written by
18/09/2023
Central Element’s planning proposal to increase the building height on a rare Neutral Bay landholding at 12 – 14 Waters Road was gazetted on 15 September.
In line with North Sydney Council’s Military Road Corridor Planning Strategy, the new planning controls will see the site’s building height increase from 16 metres to 22 metres and enable rooftop communal facilities. In addition, the minimum non-residential FSR standard has also increased from 0.5:1 to 1.2:1, meaning more floor space will be dedicated to commercial and retail uses.
These new controls will make way for 1954 square metres of commercial and retail floor area, together with 37 x dwellings comprising 3 x 1 bedders, 14 x 2 bedders, 19 x 3 bedders and 1 x 4 bedder. The dwelling sizes will range from 58 square metres to 189 square metres.
The ground level tenancy will be designated for speciality retail, with the apartments being located between levels 1 – 5. Each level will accommodate around 5 – 10 apartments and the communal rooftop will offer residents a BBQ and seating area, plenty of landscaping and a pool.
Concept communal rooftop swimming pool
Historically, the 1628 square metre site accommodated a 4 x storey concrete frame and brick commercial building. The scale of development in Neutral Bay typically ranges from 2 – 5 storeys, with future development, as indicated in the Military Road Corridor Planning Strategy, to be in the range of 6 – 12 storeys.
In May 2018, North Sydney Council resolved to prepare a planning study for the Military Road corridor. A year later, Council prepared a planning study to focus on Neutral Bay’s town centre, which indicated height limit increases for various sites from 5 to 6 storeys and increased minimum non-residential FSR controls from 0.5:1 to 1.2:1. The rationale behind greater minimum non-residential FSR controls is because employment floor space in Neutral Bay is systematically being eroded, as the current controls enable existing levels of employment floor space to be replaced by residential development. This is obviously because residential development is the highest and best use.
In April 2021, Central Element lodged a DA for a 6 x storey mixed-use building based on Council’s planning strategy. Given the height limit at the time only permitted 5 x storeys, Council advised the clause 4.6 variation request would not be supported and suggested a planning proposal to amend the height to 6 x storeys be lodged.
Council has agreed in-principle to accept the voluntary planning agreement offer to receive a monetary contribution of $1.9 million in addition to section 7.11 contributions towards public domain works within the town centre.
Council’s precinct planning for Neutral Bay has taken over 4 years to prepare, which has caused significant delays and momentum for key sites within the precinct.
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