14 -16 Hill Road Sydney Olympic Park

Council is consulting on changes to planning controls as they apply to the Sekisui site located at 14-16 Hill Road, Sydney Olympic Park. These controls were adopted in 2015 and sit in the Auburn Local Environmental Plan 2010 and Wentworth Point Development Control Plan 2014. The amended controls seek to redesign the approved masterplan and redevelop the site as follows:

• Six (6) residential towers showing a taller built form across detailed building footprints so the same amount of approved residential density can be built,
• More open space including a larger foreshore park, and
• Reserving land for a future public transport corridor through the site.

Council is also consulting on an additional infrastructure contributions from Sekisui in a Draft Voluntary Planning Agreement valued at $20 million. The agreement proposes the developer provide:

• Land for a future public transit corridor at no cost,
• A foreshore park including $12.4million worth of works and maintenance for the first 5-years,
• Remediation of potential contamination,
• Two (2) pocket parks shown as ‘neighbourhood green’ and ‘southwestern pocket park’ openly accessible to the public.
• Removal of the acquisition costs for Council
• Upgrades to the Burroway Road/Hill Road intersection

A local environmental plan, or LEP, is a legislative framework guiding the development of land in a local government area through land use zones and development controls. It includes a written instrument and a series of maps. The Sekisui site is subject to the Auburn LEP 2010 and will be subject to Council’s new consolidated LEP in the future. The LEP may change as part of a Planning Proposal.

The Sekisui Planning Proposal aims to change the LEP by amending the amount of land covered by certain zones (e.g. R4 High Density Residential, B4 Mixed Use, RE1 Public Recreation) and includes Maximum Building Height and Floor Space Ratio controls on mapped developable blocks. This guides development onto specific parts of the land prior to subdivision being undertaken.

A development control plan, or DCP, gives guidance to development and normally supports the aims and objectives of a Local Environmental Plan (LEP). It provides detailed controls and standards for addressing development issues at a local level and covers various development types, including residential, commercial and industrial. A consent authority, such as a Council, is required to take a DCP into consideration when determining a development application.

The Wentworth Point DCP 2014 currently applies to the Sekisui site. The exhibited DCP (with amendments shown in red) would be amended to show:

• A revised masterplan,
• Revised streets and open space network, 
• Amended controls for building design, land use, floor space and parking, and
• Updated sustainability and environmental management.

A planning agreement, or VPA, are legal documents created under the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 between developers and government agencies for the provision of infrastructure or other public amenities. A VPA enables the opportunity for councils to negotiate for the provision of community facilities and infrastructure which could not be obtained through a development contributions plan. In this regard, VPA’s are a more flexible mechanism to fund or deliver infrastructure in a timely manner.

The draft planning agreement is valued at over $20 million and includes the following community benefits:

• Land for a future public transit corridor to be provided at no cost,
• A foreshore park including $12.4million worth of works
• Remediation of potential contamination 
• Ongoing maintenance and monitoring of potential contamination for a period of 5-years
• Traffic upgrades for the Burroway Road/Hill Road intersection, and
• Two (2) pocket parks shown as ‘neighbourhood green’ and ‘southwestern pocket park’ publicly accessible by 24-hour easements.

In February 2016, the former Auburn Council approved a staged development proposal for distribution of the same 188,800sqm Gross Floor Area (GFA) across 7 lots and associated infrastructure works such as roads, stormwater, utilities, and public domain.

This approval consisted of multiple towers of 25-storeys with less open space. 

In June 2018, the Regional Planning Panel approved Phase 1 redevelopment of the site (new building already on the site) which includes 362 of 2,300 total apartments across 4-buildings between 3 to 25-storeys with internal parking, construction of a new road and the remaining part of the site left vacant.

The intent of the amended planning controls is to redistribute the approved density across the site through taller building heights (from 25-storeys up to 28-40 storeys) on smaller building footprints (i.e. less amount of land area). This will help accommodate more open space (increasing from 1.35ha to 2.2ha) and includes a future public transport corridor. Redesigning the development to achieve more open space and a future public transport corridor is beneficial as it provides a better public amenity for the community, could make future apartments more valuable and helps make the government acquisition of land for future public transport requirements more feasible.

The State Government made parts of Wentworth Point and Sydney Olympic Park including this site an Urban Activation Precinct. The Urban Activation Precinct rezoning was completed in 2014 and changed the site’s planning controls to R4 – High Density Residential (with height and floor space ratios permitting up to 188,800sqm GFA) and RE1 – Public Recreation (with a land acquisition reservation for Council). More information is available at https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/wentworthpoint.

Potential contamination from the previous industrial use were considered for the Development Applications and remains a consideration as part of the Draft Planning Agreement and any future Development Applications. Council may choose whether or not they want to own publicly accessible assets like the foreshore park once remediation and improvement works are completed.

The land reserved for a future transport corridor may eventually be acquired by State Government to provide for light rail or equivalent bus service connecting the new Metro West Station at Sydney Olympic Park to Melrose Park and surrounding areas. If the proposed amendments are adopted but there is no funding commitment to Parramatta Light Rail (Stage 2) or equivalent bus service, then the transport corridor will be used as a linear park or additional car parking along the new road.

Council acknowledges that traffic concerns are a key issue for the Wentworth Point and Sydney Olympic Park community. No changes are however proposed to the already approved density as the proposal seeks to redistribute this density (into taller building forms) to provide space for a future public transport corridor and larger foreshore park.

Public recreation and open space is changing in size, from 1.3 hectares (existing zoning) to 1.8 hectares (proposed zoning) along the foreshore boundary of the site and is currently identified as foreshore park.

Under the new plans, Sekisui has offered to design, remediate and deliver the new 1.8 hectare park at no cost to Council. Sekisui will also remediate potential contamination and offer a 5-year maintenance period before ownership arrangements for the foreshore park are decided by Council. 

There are also two other parks proposed within the privately owned land. These include a 3,150sqm neighbourhood green adjacent to the future public transport corridor and an 880sqm pocket park in the south-western corner of the site. These spaces will remain under private ownership but will be accessible 24/7 via public access easements.

The Planning Agreement (VPA) includes Section 6.4 and Schedule 4 which outlines the Maintenance Schedule with expectations on things like landscaping, watering, weeding, rubbish removal, mulch, mowing, and cleaning of the BBQ area. When the VPA is executed and registered on title of the land, this will become a legal obligation on the landowner.

Council would like feedback from the broader Wentworth Point and Sydney Olympic Park community on what should be included in the park to ensure it meets local needs. Council made a resolution which requires the community to be consulted on the concept plan and facilities to be provided in the foreshore park (see Resolution 3138 (e), Council Minutes 22 March 2021). Council invites you to provide feedback on what features of the new park are important to you as part of this consultation. More details on the foreshore park are included in:

• Part 3.4 Open Space Network in the Draft Development Control Plan,
• Schedules 2 & 3, Annexures C & D in the Draft Planning Agreement, 
• VPA Explanatory Note.