The Draft City Centre DCP introduces detailed controls that address design quality and built form, public domain, heritage, flood risk, environmental sustainability and vehicular access and parking for development in the Parramatta City Centre.

The proposed DCP controls ensure that future development across the City Centre balances the importance of design quality and the legacy of existing buildings that are unique to the City Centre.

A key focus of the proposed DCP controls is on the way people experience the city, therefore, the interaction of buildings and public spaces is critical in shaping the activities of the City Centre.

The Draft City Centre DCP will apply to all land in the Parramatta City Centre (as shown in Figure 1 of the Draft City Centre DCP).

The new controls will replace Section 4.3.3 of the existing Parramatta Development Control Plan (DCP) 2011 for the Parramatta City Centre. Consequential amendments are also required to Sections 4.4.4.1 and 4.4.3.3 because of a zoning change affecting two heritage conservation areas.

A Development Control Plan (or DCP) is a locally adopted supplementary document that supports Council's primary planning instrument. The primary planning instrument is the Local Environmental Plan (LEP). The DCP guides council staff, applicants and landowners in the requirements needed to carry out development and achieve the desired outcomes within the land covered by these instruments.

A DCP may contain a range of measures such as planning principles, objectives and controls related to buildings for example, as well as controls for specific topics such as car parking, environmental sustainability or heritage.

The Draft City Centre DCP is needed to support the significant growth and changes in the City Centre envisioned by the new LEP controls being delivered through the CBD Planning Framework.

The Draft City Centre DCP is a key component of the CBD Planning framework and it gives effect to Council’s vision for high quality, active urban spaces and architecture that will foster the development of a lively, diverse, and healthy city which celebrates a sense of place and local character.

For an overview of the Draft City Centre DCP please view the Community Summary Sheet that has been prepared as a part of this exhibition.

The Draft City Centre DCP provides building controls which aim to create a coherent and attractive City Centre characterised by lively streets of human scale. Essential to this Draft DCP is the conception of a City Centre focused on people.

In order to achieve a high standard of collective urban outcomes in Parramatta for residents, workers and visitors, the Draft DCP contains new and revised sections on design quality and environmental sustainability; it identifies special areas of the City; it provides for new and dedicated heritage controls to celebrate and protect Parramatta’s history, as well as controls and guidance on the management of flood risks, parking and traffic.

The Draft City Centre DCP and supporting information will be on public exhibition from Monday, 15 November to Monday, 13 December 2021 and can be accessed for viewing on:

Council’s website: https://participate.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/cbd-DCP

A hard copy of the Draft City Centre DCP is also available at:

• Council’s Customer Contact Centre: 126 Church Street, Parramatta, between 10:00am – 3:00pm, Monday – Friday (subject to COVID-19 restrictions – please check Council’s website for further details)
• Parramatta Library, 1/3 Fitzwilliam Street, Parramatta (subject to COVID-19 restrictions – please check Council’s website for further details)

During the exhibition period written submissions on the Draft Parramatta City Centre DCP can be made via:

• Email to: parracbdplanning@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au (with ‘Draft CBD DCP’ in the subject header); or
• Online submission e-form: https://participate.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/cbd-DCP; or
• Mail: City of Parramatta Council, Attention: Parramatta CBD Planning Team (quoting reference F2021/02935), PO Box 32, Parramatta NSW 2124.

Submissions need to be received by 5.00pm, Monday, 13 December 2021.

Design Quality is concerned not only with how buildings look but includes fundamental considerations for the amenity of occupants and how buildings contribute to the development of quality urban places.

Good design generates spaces with a sense of appropriateness in which people naturally feel comfortable. It has detail and material quality, is long lasting, and it creates financial return through the making of places that people value.

Good design also incorporates an understanding that individual buildings should relate to each other as well as contribute to a larger whole. This conception of the importance of collective urban form is an underlying principle of the Draft City Centre DCP controls.

Principles which underpin the Draft City Centre DCP include the following considerations related to:

Buildings

Consistency in street alignment and street wall conditions for a comfortable range and scale of 4 to 6 storey street environments throughout the city which support tall slender towers that are set back to allow daylight, views and circulation of air to the streets and public spaces below.

Flood Risk Management

City Centre specific flood risk management measures tailored to the floodplain, river catchments and associated tributaries the CBD sits within. Council’s approach to flood controls in the Draft DCP supports the framework established under the CBD Planning Proposal (CBD PP) and the Draft Floodplain Risk Management Plan.

Heritage

To ensure the collective network of heritage places related to the unique qualities of Parramatta’s history and the character of the City is protected and understood, and that new development is considerate of heritage items and places, while supporting future growth.

Environmental Sustainability

To limit environmental impacts from increased growth and to deliver buildings of a high environmental performance standard in the City Centre.

Public Domain

To ensure public spaces – streets, squares and parks – as the most enduring spaces and organising framework of the city, and the shared social and cultural domain they make up are controlled in a collective and ordered way. The clarity, quality and amenity of the public domain contributes in a fundamental way to the identity and experience of the city.

Special Areas of the City

The draft City Centre DCP acknowledges special areas as precincts within the City of special importance or prominence that require tailored controls to manage their future growth.

Refer to the Community Summary Sheet for further details on the intent of the draft controls.

All of the endorsed site-specific DCP controls contained within Part 4.3.3 of the existing DCP are proposed to be carried over without change in the Draft Parramatta City Centre DCP.

Yes. Business Rules are in place to guide the assessment and determination of development applications, including their relationship to planning proposals and design competitions.

The current business rules were endorsed by the CEO on 6th October 2020. In accordance with these business rules, all new proposals in the Parramatta City Centre can be submitted in accordance with the new draft controls as the Draft City Centre DCP is endorsed by Council and on exhibition. In the interim, if you wish to speak to Council Officers in relation to a pre-lodgement process, please contact Team Leader Development Advice on 02 9806 5593.

The Business rules are further explained in the Council Report of 11 October 2021 (Item 17.4).

Following public exhibition of the Draft City Centre DCP, all submissions received will be reviewed.

A report detailing a response to all of the submissions and a final suite of new controls for adoption will be reported back to Council for consideration in the first quarter of 2022.