17 Sep Developer’s tall order: Lane Cove Council and the supine saga of St Leonards South

Members of Greenwich Community Association (GCA) have been informed of upsetting news about the re-zoning of St Leonards South (SLS) for high density development which has now been approved by the Department of Planning, almost exactly as approved by Council at an Extraordinary Meeting on 11 May, 2020. The consequent amendments to Council’s Local Environmental Plan have been gazetted and they will take effect from 1 November.

In a special bulletin to members the President of the GCA summarised the sad history of the planning decisions, the poor consultation and total public disdain that have plagued the proper planning of this massive nearby (over)development since 2012.

“The amenity of our precinct and of those adjacent will be irrevocably compromised and we have every reason to be outraged,” she said.

“Most of our Councillors have made it clear that they have little regard for the views of those who elected them. And the Department of Planning (DPIE) has wasted its money and our time on ‘expert’ advice that it has chosen to ignore.”

Council’s disregard for the Greenwich community in relation to St Leonards South has a long history dating back to the years from 2012 -2014 when all residents from outside the proposed re-zoned area, such as GCA members, were excluded from the ‘specially selected’ Community Liaison Committee which quite brazenly decided to then include representatives of the very residents who ultimately benefited from the re-zoning.

Council’s lack of commitment to real community engagement was clear from the start as local residents subsequently received no reports on these meetings; and minimal detail was available on Council’s website as meetings were convened by an external facilitator.

The same ‘faux’ consultation process that permeates Lane Cove Council modus operandi today then continued for years until the bitter end of this decision-making debacle this past year.

Here is a snapshot of last year’s procedures which at several stages should have changed the direction of the whole proposal:

In 2019 the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) was directed by then Minister for Planning, Anthony Roberts, to provide him with advice on the consistency of SLS with the DPIE’s overall plans for St Leonards and Crows Nest.

Unlike Lane Cove Council, the IPC listened to Greenwich Community submissions, finding in July 2019 that the SLS plan was inconsistent with many aspects of the DPIE’s plans for the area and, most importantly, that it represented overdevelopment of the site.

And Council’s response? Our council asked the DPIE to again review the clear advice of the IPC.

So the DPIE held a Design Charrette (a collaborative session in which a group of designers drafts a solution to a design problem) for SLS to assist Council to respond to the IPC advice, attended by Council officers, a representative of the Government Architect and members of the State Design Review Panel. Oddly, Councillors and community members were excluded as observers.

The Charrette recommendations included the centralisation and increase of open space but… our council dismissed the Charrette recommendations at its infamous meeting of 11 May. This was in the middle of COVID restrictions on public gatherings and Councillors were meeting remotely.

Community members asked for community consultation about the proposed changes to the SLS plan but were told by the Mayor that consultation was illegal.

At the 11 May meeting, the Mayor refused to allow a motion for community consultation to be put by Councillor Morris again claiming it would be illegal.

(GCA has seen the legal advice issued to Council and it does not support the assertion that community consultation about the SLS options would have been illegal).

Finally, despite over a hundred emails to Councillors,  Greenwich residents were left to watch a webcast in which they could not participate and in which the  re-zoning was approved by a vote of 5-3 (only Councillors Vissel, Morris and Zbik voted against – all credit to them).

The President of Greenwich Community Association finished her missive to members with a message to most of our elected Councillors:  “The SLS saga is a sorry chapter in Council’s history that must go down as proof that developer interest is paramount.

“Despite hundreds and hundreds of well-considered submissions from community members, written and in public forum, you have shown us clearly that, as far as SLS is concerned, the voice of your community counts for almost nothing.”

And a message to the Department of Planning:

“Why did you bother going to the expense of the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) review and the Design Charrette? Contrary to what you have said, you have ignored the clear findings of the IPC. Contrary to the Charette Recommendations, you have not addressed the need for more open space within the SLS site.

“And, to add insult to injury, you have now designated two huge additional sites in the Lane Cove LGA on Pacific Highway as mixed commercial/ residential.

“This new Pacific Highway designation will bring hundreds of additional units to East Ward, so why has the DPIE not reduced the number of dwellings in SLS?”

The next move in this long, ever-evolving saga is the SLS Development Control Plan (DCP) which General Manager Craig Wrightson says will go to the October Council meeting for approval with no plan to put it out for consultation.

“Surely, after all the rush of the 11 May meeting, it is appropriate for the community to have a chance to give feedback on Council’s DCP?”  asked the GCA President.