49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45
President Avenue and 47 President Avenue
One submission has been received on behalf of Coles Group Property
Development requesting a review of height across the properties owned by
Coles at Caringbah.
One submission objects to the scale of proposed buildings and the loss of
trees that will result.
Summary of Issues
Two submissions have been received that make detailed reference to the Coles site.
One submission is a general objection and refers to the trees in the Council car park,
noting that this is ‘where the local Rosellas go in their hundreds in the afternoon for a
chinwag’. The same submission makes reference to the redevelopment of the site
and raises concern in regard to the potential building envelope and overall scale of
redevelopment on the site, demonstrating similarities to built form outcomes at Wolli
Creek.
The other submission is on behalf of Coles Group Property Development (Coles).
The submission centres around changes made to the height limit set across the site
in response to the consideration of submissions to the exhibition of LEP2. Essentially
‘Coles is disappointed that the building height standards contained in the current
Draft LEP differ significantly from previous versions of the Draft LEP.’
The submission makes reference to the extensive and constructive consultative
process with Council which Coles has had in the formulation of the draft LEP.
Importantly, the submission also makes the following points:
The Coles site was clearly identified by Council as an important site to realise
several of the key objectives identified in the Draft Caringbah Centre Strategy
The current Coles supermarket building is sub-standard, adds very little to the
built environment and requires replacement in the short term from a
commercial perspective for Coles, and for the benefit of the whole Caringbah
Centre
The proposed significant reduction in building height in the current draft LEP
hinders a commercially viable redevelopment of the site
Both Council staff and the independent review of LEP2 gave specific
consideration to the proposed standards for the Coles Caringbah site and
concluded that they were appropriate
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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It is important for Council to consider whether community concerns regarding
perceived overdevelopment are valid and reasonable in the circumstances of
each particular case, before simply acceding to understandable but not
necessarily well founded opposition to taller buildings
After having the benefit of detailed professional assessment by Council and
independent reviewers to confirm the appropriateness of the previously
proposed development standards, the basis upon which the currently
proposed lower height limitations were determined is unclear
Development standards should be based on evidence and analysis. Without
such evidence and analysis, the proposed standards lack rigour and
robustness and undermine the efficacy of the standard itself and broadly the
Draft LEP within which it is contained.
As an outcome, additional information by way of a detailed urban design analysis of
the site and its context (undertaken by Nettleton Tribe Architects) is provided by
Coles in support of their request for:
20 metres (fronting President Avenue)
30 metres (fronting Willarong Road and immediately behind President
Avenue)
45 metres adjacent rail line.
Analysis of Issues
Increased height for the Coles site in Caringbah was first proposed in detail in the
Draft Caringbah Centre Strategy, which was exhibited for public comment in
April/May/June 2012. This was not a statutory exhibition, but the proposals formed
the basis for the height and density recommendations in the first exhibition of
DSSLEP2013 (SDC001-13 and SDC003-13). An important principle in the strategy
document was to maintain a maximum 5 storey (20m) building height on President
Avenue.
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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Figure 1 - Subject Site (Coles Site - 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President Avenue and
47 President Avenue)
Figure 2 - Draft SSLEP2013 Exhibition No. 3 - Zoning (B3 Commercial Core)
In the first exhibition of the draft LEP the Coles site formed part of a larger area
identified for amalgamation. The bonus height limit was applied to the amalgamated
site. In its submission to the exhibition of LEP1 Coles requested that height and FSR
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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increases be retained for their land, and that the Coles development site be removed
from amalgamated site known as Area 1. Justification for this was made based on
uncertainty and difficulties with negotiations between lot owners and in
amalgamation procedures. The outcome of the request was that they could achieve
a maximum FSR of 3:1 and height 46 metres, without any amalgamation or access
requirements as proposed for the area captured as Area 1, and without any
specifically required public benefit by way of pedestrian, vehicular access or
pedestrian plaza. With the purchase of more land in President Avenue, the enlarged
site gave Coles more flexibility in the development design and allowed them to
demonstrate that they could achieve a good outcome on their own land.
In response to the Coles submission to the first exhibition of the LEP, additional
testing and urban design modelling was undertaken to determine potential impacts of
the Coles site being redeveloped independently without the Council car park, at a
maximum FSR of 3:1 and height of 46 metres. The below images demonstrate
preliminary modelling outcomes.
Figure 3 - Council modelling of potential built form (from Willarong Road)
The conclusion drawn from the modelling was that development on this site at FSR
3:1 and maximum height 46 metres can maintain reasonable visual, aesthetic and
amenity impacts to established and desired built form along President Avenue.
Redevelopment of the Coles site would require all car parking on site (both
commercial and residential car spaces) as well as adequate service arrangements.
This has not yet been demonstrated by Coles. Whilst the Coles submission does not
provide a pedestrian plaza or pedestrian access through the site from Park Lane to
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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Willarong Road, the proposal allows for the continuation of existing pedestrian
movements and vehicular access to 344-345 Kingsway (Lot 1 DP 219784) and 340
Kingsway (S/P 13533) through the Council car park.
Following this analysis, the amended draft LEP was re-exhibited with mapped height
46m and FSR 3:1 for the enlarged Coles site (i.e. LEP2). The site was also excluded
from Area 1. Despite the removal of the LEP clauses requiring a public plaza as part
of a redevelopment, it is still possible to achieve some public urban design benefit
from the redevelopment at ground level, and the assessment of any future
development application from Coles will promote good urban design outcomes at the
interface of the public and private domains.
An outcome of the Independent Review into LEP2 saw the Panel support the
exhibited FSR of 3:1 and height 46 metres for the Coles site.
The Review made the following comment (p. 81):
The removal of the requirement for site amalgamation for the Coles site is a
pragmatic decision as it recognises the reality of the difficulty of achieving this
with other owners, who have different objectives and time scales. It also
recognises the key role that a successful Coles supermarket has in the
revitalisation of the Caringbah Centre. It is therefore good planning practice.
The constitution of an alternative Area 1 for amalgamation (which did not make it
into the Mayoral Minute and therefore LEP2) apparently arose from a meeting
with relevant landowners, so it has some chance of success. It is therefore
consistent with good planning practice.
As an outcome of the 46 metre height limit applying across all sites, Council officers
were concerned that this created the potential for a very tall building along President
Avenue. This was not intended and would have significant impacts on the public
domain. Officers recommended further amendments that set a 20 metre height limit
to those lots with a frontage to President Avenue. However, after considering
submissions Council resolved (CCL007-15) to apply a maximum FSR of 3:1 across
the entire site and a maximum permissible height of 20m to the President Avenue
lots and 30 metres elsewhere. See figures below.
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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Figure 4 - Draft SSLEP2013 Exhibition No. 3 - FSR (3:1)
Figure 5 - Draft SSLEP2013 Exhibition No. 3 - Height (20m and 30m)
It is this height outcome that Coles now contests. The urban design analysis
presented with their submission demonstrates that:
A building complying with the exhibited height and FSR standards (LEP3)
cannot achieve SEPP 65 “rules of thumb” for building separation and
potentially other design guidelines
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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A scheme more consistent with SEPP 65 guidelines is therefore unlikely to
achieve the maximum allowable FSR
Achieving close to the maximum FSR is critical to the commercial viability of
the major redevelopment of the site.
The below figures illustrate the potential development outcome, including shadow
diagrams for a ‘base scheme’, indicative of the 20 metre and 30 metre height limit
resolved by Council and exhibited as LEP3. A key outcome to note from the
illustrations of the base scheme is the building separation and the scale of each
building in terms of their building footprint. In attempt to achieve the 3:1 FSR against
the permissible heights of 30 metres and 20 metres, the result is large building
masses with reduced building separation. Buildings which are too close together can
create amenity problems including a lack of visual and acoustic privacy, loss of
daylight access to apartments and to private and shared open spaces.
Having consideration for this, SEPP 65 states that ‘in urban areas with tower building
types, building separation is an important element for defining better urban form and
improving residential amenity.
Figure 6 - Coles Site Base Scheme
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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Figure 7 - Coles Site Base Scheme Shadow Diagrams
The analysis shown below makes a variation to that base scheme shown above and
demonstrates how the required FSR can be achieved across the site in conformity
with SEPP 65 guidelines largely within the identified 20 to 30 metres as exhibited in
LEP3. It does, however, rely on an isolated taller tower element of 45 metres.
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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Figure 8 - Coles Site Proposed Scheme
Figure 9 - Coles Site Proposed Scheme Shadow Diagrams
The analysis illustrated above, undertaken by Nettleton Tribe on behalf of Coles,
supports the submission for a review of heights across the site in line with those
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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exhibited as LEP2. The submission affirms that the previous analysis demonstrates
that a building of up to 45 metres on part of the site is appropriate because:
It ‘book-ends’ the Meriton tower on the opposing side of the railway line
It is appropriate to have the tallest ‘marker building’ for the Caringbah Town
Centre in the heart of the Centre rather than on the periphery. Therefore, the
Coles site should host a taller building than the Meriton building
The taller building of up to 45 metres can be located on the site away from the
street and closest to the rail line to reduce its visual presence. It can also be
treated to avoid internal noise and vibration from the rail, whilst acting as a
sound ‘barrier building’ to protect buildings behind from those impacts
The locational attributes of the site (i.e. proximity to rail, separation from
surrounding sensitive land uses etc) means that the public interests is best
served by optimising the development potential of the site to within the upper
limits of its environmental constraints and capacity
The only substantive external impact likely to be generated by a taller building
on the site is overshadowing of surrounding residential buildings
The shadow analysis, illustrated above, demonstrates that a building of 45
metres can be designed to ensure that no current or likely future dwelling will
receive less than 3 hours sunlight access to living areas and open spaces
mid-winter.
Below is a section through President Avenue and a Potential Built Form Plan from
the Draft Caringbah Strategy document. A key principle of this strategy document
was to maintain a maximum 20 metre building height on President Avenue. The
analysis indicates that in the current and future LEP context, the height of 20 metres
is appropriate for the President Avenue frontage of the site. What the above base
scheme and proposed schemes demonstrate is that this height limit on President
Avenue is able to be maintained.
Figure 10 - Caringbah Typical sections by Randles Straatveit Architects (as exhibited) Centres exhibition
2012: Draft Caringbah Centre Strategy
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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The analysis also shows that Council’s intention for a 30 metre limit along the
northern half of Willarong Road can be maintained with a taller building.
The submission concludes that while there is merit in Council’s resolution to reduce
maximum heights of the Coles site from 46 metres to 20 metres along its President
Avenue Road frontage and 30 metres along Willarong Road, but there is no
identifiable benefit or justification provided to reduce the height of the balance of the
site from 46 metres to 30 metres.
This is consistent with the conclusions of Council officers, drawn from modelling and
testing, which found that development on this site at FSR 3:1 and maximum height
46 metres can maintain reasonable visual, aesthetic and amenity impacts to
established and likely built forms.
In support of their request for a review of height across the site, the submission
illustrates how this can be achieved through the LEP mapping format. This is shown
in the figure below. Setback requirements do not form part of the draft Plan and any
further consideration for such a control would be captured in a Development Control
Plan (DCP). Furthermore, it may also be appropriate to provide for less defined
outcomes across the site in the LEP (as recommended post exhibition of LEP2 and
rely on the DCP to provide detailed design outcomes by way of clauses and building
envelope plans. This would allow greater flexibility across the site and allow Council
to work with Coles to achieve specific design outcomes for the site.
Figure 11 - Coles Site Proposed Scheme Proposed Building Height Map and Setback Plan
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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Having considered the issues detailed above, it is considered that there is merit in
returning to the 46 metre height limit that was exhibited as part of LEP2, while also
incorporating the 20 metre height limit for properties fronting President Avenue.
Response to Issues
While the above analysis outlines that the appropriateness of the height standard
exhibited as part of LEP2, Council has considered this issue and the majority of
Councillors formed the view that a height limit of 30m and a FSR 3:1 is appropriate
for the site. Given that no new issues have been raised in submissions to LEP3, no
further recommendation is made by planning officers in relation to the issue.
However, should Council be of a view to address the issues raised by Coles, it could
request the Minister to restore the development standards exhibited as part of LEP2.
Because these planning controls were exhibited as part of the earlier exhibition,
Council has considered the public view in relation to this mater. However, the
Environmental Planning and Assessment Act provides no clear direction as to
whether returning to what was exhibited earlier triggers the need for a further
exhibition. Planning officers have sought direction from the Department of Planning
and have been advised that each case will need to be reviewed by the Minister.
To further delay the plan on the basis of this submission is not in the public interest.
Therefore if Council is of a view to pursue this direction, it should make a two part
request to the Minister for Planning in relation to this matter. Firstly, it should request
the Minister make the change. However, in the event that the Minister is of the view
the re-exhibition is needed, Council could request that the Minister proceed with the
30m height limit as exhibited in LEP3. In this event, it is recommended that a height
limit of 46 metres be pursued as a separate Planning Proposal that would be
commenced after the gazettal of the LEP.
49. Caringbah Centre: Coles Site, 178-184 Willarong Road, 41-45 President
Avenue and 47 President Avenue
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