Adoption of the draft Beverly Hills Master Plan has been deferred by Georges River Council to go a councillor workshop to discuss a number of late changes.
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The draft Beverly Hills Master Plan has been prepared to guide the revitalisation of the Beverly Hills local centre and its surrounds.
A total of 78 survey submissions including 61 community submissions and four public authority and infrastructure provider submissions were received during the public exhibition of the draft plan.
Community submissions related to four main issues: objections to acquisitions proposed in the draft Master Plan; Development, Scale, Layout and Connectivity; Objections to traffic and parking; Requests for changes to proposed controls on specific sites within the study area.
Submissions expressed concern for overdevelopment of Beverly Hills and the desire to avoid the scale of Hurstville City Centre.
Traffic pressures resulting from additional development were of concern to 44 per cent of all submissions. The availability of car parking was another key issue.
Eight submissions by landowners requested changes to exhibited planning controls including land use, floor space ratio and building heights and DCP controls.
These amendments proposed to the draft Master Plan included:
- Identify Nos 48-56 Tooronga Terrace properties as a site for 'future housing investigation' on the draft Master Plan.
- Additional building height of 3.1m for sites at 526 King Georges Road, 17 Norfolk Avenue and 544 King Georges Road.
- Include 152-166 Stoney Creek Road as a new Key Site.
- Additional building height of 3.1 m for sites at 152-166 Stoney Creek Road.
- Additional floor space ratio of 0.5:1 measured according to the site area within the boundary of Nos 152-166 Stoney Creek Road.
The draft Master Plan came to last night's council meeting with a recommendation that the council adopt the Beverly Hills Town Centre Master Plan dated July 2021 as amended and submits the amended Beverly Hills Draft Master Plan to the Department of Planning and Environment for endorsement as a strategic study.
But Councillor Vince Badalati called for the adoption of the Master Plan to be deferred for a councillor workshop to discuss the new amendments.
"Some of the changes that have been brought into the Master Plan come from leftfield," Cr Badalati said.
"This includes requests to increase heights from eight to ten-storeys at sites along Kings Georges Road.
"Already eight storeys is quite a high level and ten storeys includes the old service station site on Stoney Creek Road. Across the road in Lee avenue you have single-storey dwellings.
"We always talk about transitioning yet here we are going from 10-storeys to one and two-storeys in Lee Avenue.
"There are quite a lot of changes that have come into the draft for the Master Plan and the reason we (the Environment and Planning Committee) deferred it for a workshop was so that we could understand exactly what the changes are before we vote on it; so that we have all the information available before we make such an important decision.
"I've no problems with the so-called East Street (to run between Frederick Avenue and Norfolk Avenue) but it also includes seven properties beingcompulsory acquired and on our previous experience on compulsory acquisition we haven't done too well.
"What is the rationale behind agreeing to 10 storeys on the corner of Norfolk Avenue, on the old service station site, across the road on Edgbaston Road?
"Because they are called significant sites doesn't mean that they can go up to whatever they want.
"The rights of a lot of residents on both sides of King Georges Road are just being trampled on and before I vote either way on this I want to understand exactly what I am voting on.
"That is why the committee unanimously voted for the workshop where staff can explain all the changes because we obvious;ly did not have enough time to review them."
Cr Con Hindi thanked the council staff for their excellent work on the Master Plan.
"They have taken councillors on a journey with their many briefings," he said.
"The last bit of the journey is about submissions."
Cr Badalati added the staff have done an excellent job. "It's just that the last lot of changes we weren't sure of the impact. This is so we can understand all the changes and what impact they may have."
Earlier, Brett Daintry, the towner planner for the Beverly Hills Landowners' Association asked that the council adopt the draft Master Plan so that it may proceed to a Planning Proposal.
"The Landowners Association has made detailed submissions over five years," he said.
"This process has been dragging on a long time. The Association just wish it known that they seek progress on this to a Planning Proposal as soon as possible."
But councillors voted that the Master Plan be deferred to a councillor workshop to allow council staff to explain submissions and recommended amendment to the development controls such as an increase in Floor Space Ratio and height (in particular;rlky for sites on King Georges Road) and a review of the approach to compulsory acquisition of ares such as between Frederick Street and Norfolk Street.
