Randwick Mayor announces $300M transformation project

Anzac Parade in Kensington and Kingsford could be transformed into an ideas hub with new community centres, exhibition spaces and an Innovation Centre designed to encourage creative start-up businesses, Randwick Mayor Noel D’Souza announced today.

The Plan is part of Randwick City Council’s Kensington to Kingsford Planning Strategy to be considered at Council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday 6 December 2016 (deferred to 13 December meeting where it was adopted).

If adopted, the draft strategy will be forwarded to the Department of Planning for endorsement and then put out to community consultation in early 2017.

The plan proposes modest increases in heights and densities to create about 1,500 new homes, more than 1,000 new jobs and 54,000sqm of new commercial space along the 2.5 km Anzac Parade strip.

Developers would pay higher levies to fund the $300M public benefits package including dedication of five per cent of new homes as affordable.

Randwick Mayor Noel D’Souza said the $300M transformation plan is big and bold.

“This is the single biggest and boldest town planning exercise ever conducted by Randwick City Council. We received lots of great ideas from the community and the entrants in the K2K Urban Design Competition and we’ve taken the best ones forward.

“I think the current and future residents and workers of Kingsford and Kensington deserve a vibrant, innovative and thriving town centre.

“My vision is for Anzac Parade to be known as a creative ideas hub. We’ve already got UNSW and NIDA, so it makes sense to further enhance this and provide opportunities for innovative start-up businesses,” Mayor D’Souza said.

Under the plan, maximum heights on Anzac Parade in Kingsford and Kensington will be increased by two storeys to nine storeys. At three key opportunity nodes where there is adequate street access, taller buildings of up to 18 storeys (60m) may be permitted to create focus points for the town centres.

“These heights are a good balance between encouraging growth, new housing and jobs and preserving amenity along Anzac Parade,” Mayor D’Souza said.

The $300M transformation plan includes:

• 200 new affordable homes
• 8 new plazas totalling almost 10,000sqm
• More than 50,000sqm of new public space in total – the equivalent of more than seven NRL football fields
• $3M for an innovation centre at Todman Ave to encourage start-up businesses
• New public art and sculptures
• Funds to build new public car parks and upgrade others including Houston Lane, Kingsford and Addison St, Kensington.
• Wider footpaths, landscaping, green walls, lighting and new trees
• $4.6M to bury overhead powerlines
• A multipurpose community centre and exhibition space in Kensington
• Separated cycleways including along Todman Ave and Lenthal St
• A bicycle hire scheme
• $14M for an automated waste collection system for new buildings to more efficiently collect rubbish and recycling without using individual bins
• $6M for new water sensitive design including raingardens, garden beds and swales

“I made a commitment that modest increases in height and density would only be permitted if it delivered substantial public benefits. The Kensington to Kingsford Planning Strategy delivers on that promise.

“This is about Council and the community taking back control of our town centres on Anzac Parade,” Randwick Mayor Noel D’Souza said.

Update: Council's Planning Committee on 6 December 2016 resolved to defer consideration of this matter to the Council Meeting on 13 December 2016. At this meeting Council resolved to proceed with community consultation, but a rescission motion was lodged suspending the decision. The rescission motion was considered at an Extraordinary Council Meeting on Saturday 17 December 2016 and it was lost. This means the original motion (see link below) stands.