Parramatta Road

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GUET OBSERVER
The announcement by the NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes that the final strategy for the revitalisation of the Parramatta Road Corridor has reduced the number of homes and added a new levy could slow down development and negatively impact housing affordability throughout the area. 
While it is good to see the finalisation of the 2015 draft strategy for the transformation of Parramatta Road it is disappointing that the proposed housing targets have been reduced by a third.
It was only a few months ago that the Planning Minister announced that Sydney’s population growth was stronger than previously anticipated in the Sydney Metropolitan Strategy, requiring 10% more than expected, so a 33 percent reduction in housing targets in the very desirable inner city area seems to be contrary to government’s policy.
The very detailed planning documents demonstrate significant analysis of the various precincts and seem to have retained heights up to 25 storeys in key locations. The urban amenity plans demonstrate a strong focus on the public domain.
The 5 percent affordable housing levy is an inclusionary zoning tax on development and it will clearly have a negative impact on the feasibility of development along the Corridor. Forcing developers to donate 5 percent of dwellings to a community housing provider is likely to increase the cost of the remaining 95 percent of dwellings.
Hopefully these negative signals to the development industry will not dissuade them from developing in this precinct as Sydney is in dire need of more housing supply. 
The Urban Taskforce supports the need for more affordable housing but we have proposed an incentive based system to encourage 20 percent additional affordable housing based on a similar floor space uplift. The Parramatta Road approach seems to be an overall reduction in floor space with an added tax to produce affordable housing and this could negatively affect the feasibility of projects.
Chris Johnson is chief executive officer of property development industry group Urban Taskforce and can be contacted <a href="https://www.urbantaskforce.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=97&amp;Itemid=126#.Vdaart55dFI" target="_blank">here</a>. 
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Parramatta Road housing reduction and proposed levy could slow down development

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GUEST OBSERVER
The NSW Government has produced a number of plans for development along Parramatta Road over three years yet the community and developers are still uncertain about when statutory plans will be ready. 
Recent media reports that communities are uncertain about potential development seem to blame developers for looking at the sites the government has identified for development. 
Our developer members have followed the governments lead in looking at development on the very sites the government has nominated for urban renewal. 
The latest plan for the New Parramatta Road defines quite specific heights on individual sites (i.e. average 14 storeys – max 25). The Plan includes a Draft Parramatta Road Urban Design Guidelines that ‘provide a consistent urban design framework against which land use and development assessment decisions can be made.’ The guidelines include very specific diagrams of building envelopes with set-backs and heights including the areas of taller buildings above 4 storeys.
Rather than developers being the aggressor in the potential urban renewal of Parramatta Road the problem is that the governments planning strategies are so detailed that they are creating a change in the value of land and understandably owners are looking to capitalise on this.
The development industry is being given very precise indications by government as to which sites across metropolitan Sydney are available for redevelopment but it then seems to take years before final zoning is gazetted.
In the case of Parramatta Road the process has already taken three years and the latest planning document indicates that development applications will be from 2018 onwards. 
See below plan of a potential development site on Parramatta Road indicating the degree of detail the government’s plan includes: 
<a href="/images/2015/11/5/Screen%20Shot%202015-11-05%20at%2011.12.24%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2015/11/5/Screen%20Shot%202015-11-05%20at%2011.12.24%20AM.png" alt="" width="586" height="403">
 
Chris Johnson is chief executive officer of property development industry group Urban Taskforce and can be contacted <a href="https://www.urbantaskforce.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=97&amp;Itemid=126#.Vdaart55dFI" target="_blank">here</a>.
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