Plans to build a ‘superblock’ within Sydney Park are being further considered by the Land and Environment Court after the City of Sydney’s Central Sydney Planning Committee rejected an application to build 389 apartments earlier this year.
Maxida International which owns the site of the One Sydney Park development — is appealing to the court to approve scaled-back plans for 356 units in eight six-storey buildings (shown in white at right) along Euston Road at a cost of $234 million.
Potential buyers of One Sydney Park have been promised “resort-style facilities” and use of Sydney Park as their own “personal playground”, with most apartments enjoying vista views of one of the city’s largest green spaces.
Sydney Park — once a former landfill site — has been transformed over the last three decades into an inner-city oasis made up of wetlands, gardens, a sports oval and a children’s playground. Its location — sitting along the borders of Alexandria, Newtown and Erskineville — was always going to attract the interest of developers and, in 2017, a plan was rubber-stamped to develop the park — despite a vigorous campaign by community group, the Friends of Erskineville (FoE).
President of FoE Andrew Chuter said a large residential block would put “unacceptable pressure” on the park. “The location of the proposed apartments, adjacent to the sensitive wetlands, would place unacceptable pressure on the wildlife, from the muchloved baby swans to migratory birds from Japan to Siberia,” said Chuter.
FoE is calling on planning minister Rob Stokes to intervene and return the land to the public. “We would prefer the state government to buy up the land and convert it into parkland and thereby fulfil the original vision for Sydney Park,” Chuter told the Sydney Morning Herald. “A property developer . . . shouldn’t be allowed to run roughshod over the community’s wishes.”