Over April, Ku-ring-gai Council exhibited their preferred housing scenario to the public.
Between November and December of 2024, Council released a survey with five housing options to gather feedback from the community and stakeholders. This survey was a step towards Council presenting an alternative proposal to the NSW Government in lieu of the transport-oriented development (TOD) policy.
The TOD policy allows for new housing development within 400m of the Roseville, Lindfield, Killara, and Gordon train stations.
Ku-ring-gai Council have vocally been against the implementation of the TOD policy, and are currently battling the NSW Government in the Land and Environment Court over the matter. The State and Council agreed to allow Council to develop alternative planning options in keeping with the expected dwelling capacity that the original TOD policy would afford. The mediation gave Council until May 2025 to produce a worthy proposal.
From the survey results, Council exhibited the preferred scenario to the public over April. Effectively, in Council’s estimation, this preferred policy would improve the original TOD by delivering 68% less impact on environmentally sensitive land, 69% less impact on individual heritage items, 76% less impact on tree canopy cover, and 93% fewer properties affected by poor height transitions.
Taverner Research Group prepared a report of the public exhibition results. In the report, Taverner outline that only a quarter of participants supported the scenario, while 17% were concerned with local heritage, 16% had issues with proposed building heights, and 14% were unsure how local infrastructure would keep up with population.
Ku-ring-gai Council had an Extraordinary Meeting on May 22 to consider the post exhibition report, though Mayor Christine Kay introduced a procedural motion to have the meeting adjourned until June 5. Residents will have to wait a while longer before Council decides on the future of housing development.
