Government Overrules Council on North Sydney High-Rise

The New South Wales government has overruled North Sydney Council, allowing a Crows Nest mixed-use tower to rise 18 storeys in an area currently gazetted for heights of up to 10 metres.

The Sydney North Planning Panel decided four votes to one late last week to amend North Sydney’s 2013 local environmental plan to allow for the development at 360 Pacific Highway, in Crows Nest.

At 18 storeys, the concept design will be about 60m higher, or seven times, than what is currently allowed.

A planning proposal for the development on the single lot of 1406sq m was first lodged with the council in December 2021, and called for four levels of basement parking, beneath a three-level retail and commercial podium with 42 two and three-bedroom apartments in 14 upper residential floors.

Online documents show the owner and developer of the site is Galifrey Property Pty Ltd—one of the arms of long-time Sydney property developer Barrie Nesbitt.

The main thrust of the planning amendment request relied on the government’s 2015 decision to build a new metro railway station at Crows Nest—currently under construction and set to open in 2024.

And the so-called St Leonards and Crows Nest 2036 Plan, formally endorsed by the then-Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, about five years later.

“The St Leonards and Crows Nest 2036 Plan provides capacity for up to 6683 new dwellings within the Precinct and 1950 to 3020 new jobs within Crows Nest,” town planners Urbis told the council in lodging the plans.

“The proposal responds to the State Governments vision for Crows Nest, as reflected in the newly adopted 2036 Plan by contributing housing and employment floor space strategically located within close proximity to the new Crows Nest Metro,” they wrote.

However, in meetings with the developer throughout last year North Sydney council objected to the proposal, highlighting issues with the building’s interface and amenity stemming from “the transition between high and low built form,” as well as some insufficient setbacks.

▲ North Sydney Council objected to the building’s interface and amenity stemming from “the transition between high and low built form..."

In June last year the council knocked back the planning proposal and the North Sydney Local Planning Panel agreed, refusing to support the proposal’s path to gateway determination.

The developer went to the state government for a rezoning review, seeking amendments to the maximum building height, as well as maximum and minimum floor space ratios.

In a 16-minute public teleconference last week the Sydney North Planning Panel said it was recommending the planning proposal, saying it demonstrated strategic and site-specific merit and the conditions of gateway determination had been met.

The panel “encourages council and the proponent to consider the provision of affordable housing prior to the finalisation of the planning proposal,” it wrote.

One of the five panel members—Sydney-based town planner Lindsey Dey—voted against the planning proposal saying it was excessively high, lacked setbacks and transition to adjacent and nearby properties, and would have a broader negative impact of the neighbourhood.

Dey has sat on planning panels for more than a decade.

The Pacific Highway development is just one of a handful of projects that have frustrated mayors of three north Sydney municipalities, who accuse the Department of Planning and Environment of ignoring their views.

One senior office described a “conga line” of developers lining up to take advantage of a NSW government’s St Leonards Crows Nest 2036 Plan.