The future over-station development of the new NSW Metro station at Crows Nest is causing plenty of fanfare amongst local residents, with concerns that the over-station development will result in over development of the suburb.
A NSW Government plan indicates that 6,683 new homes, 120,000 sqm of commercial floorspace and 16,500 jobs will be created by 2036. Since the plan was first published, the plan has been revised twice, the first time seeing building heights reduced and residences decreased from 350 to under 150 in one tower, as well as its height being lowered from 27 to 21 storeys.
The majority of submissions to the government have been overwhelmingly negative, citing the density of the development and lack of open space to worsen.
“The politicians love a major infrastructure project,” says Neutral Bay & Cremorne Progress Association’s Meredith Trevallyn-Jones in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
“But our life doesn’t revolve around just taking a metro to the city. I love the idea of a metro, but on its own it doesn’t solve all the problems.”
As reported by Architecture & Design, Third.I Group has acquired the final two over-development sites. The planned residential and commercial tower will add to further development currently underway in the suburb, with the 650-residence JQZ Tower currently under construction, as well as Stockland planning to triple the height of its existing IBM building. Nearby St Leonards South is also being sold up following the rezoning of the district.
Wollstonecraft Precinct for North Sydney Council Chair, John Hancox, says 11 or 12-storey buildings is a fair compromise.
“We recognise that they’ve got to get some of their money back, (but) why not even it out a bit? Don’t go so high that you’re going to cause problems in the suburb of Wollstonecraft. You’re killing the people who live on the western side of those buildings.”
Crows Nest’s residents’ sentiments are being echoed in Marrickville and Dulwich Hill, where residents are strongly opposed to over-station development at new metro stations. In comparison, there has been minimal submissions from residents for Parramatta and Olympic Park’s metro stations.
The Urban Development Institute of Australia this week held a lunch event that was attended by current NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts (also the MP for Lane Cove) and shadow Planning Minister Paul Scully. The Institute is pushing for extensive redevelopment around metro stations.
Scully believes that over-station development surrounding metro stations is a must, and cites Crows Nest as one such station.
“I’m worried we’re again failing to align population growth and public transport investment. When we get the opportunity to deliver more affordable and key worker housing near metro stations, we should be taking it,” he says.
Trevallyn-Jones says that increased foot traffic, retail and hospitality outlets are irrelevant, and that the opposition centres around a lack of public green space and community amenity.
“I was brought up in a suburb where I walked past one of the last poultry farms to get to the local primary school, which had two playing fields of its own. Maybe we don’t need that in the future, but I’d hate to see it where we go too far in the other direction and end up with metro stations, cafes and not much else.”
