LEP: potential “pandora’s box”

City of Sydney’s Draft Sydney Local Environment Plan 2011 continues to rile local community groups as Council refuses to be drawn on specific community concerns.

City News reported on March 17 the potential for brothels to be granted approval in areas zoned general residential and community concerns surrounding Council’s liberal interpretation of the public recreation zone, which included boat sheds, electricity generating works, marinas, roads, registered clubs, and water treatment facilities.

Pyrmont Action Group has called on Council to extend the time for public comment and for community forums to be conducted so that residents can be made aware of the issues and discuss them directly with Council.

In a document to City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone, Lord Mayor Clover Moore and city councillors, Pyrmont Action Group convenor, Elizabeth Elenius, wrote; “we believe that the implications of this plan are potentially so significant, that Council should (a) extend the date for submissions; and (b) hold a number of public briefings in the City of Sydney zones.”

“Council exhibited the draft plans for 60 days,” a City of Sydney Spokesperson said. “During this time we held a week-long open information session with city planners, the community was invited to make submissions, and a series of simple fact sheets on the city plan were made available on the City of Sydney website.”

“Private selective briefings are not enough to raise public awareness of this important plan,” Ms Elenius said. “The documents on display are far too voluminous for most of us to peruse and there needs to be a succinct summary presented which spells out the mapping of the zones across the city.”

Ms Elenius also sent through a detailed submission highlighting areas of concern within the document.

Pyrmont Action Group has called on council to change the plan by; amending land use tables, updating zoning maps to accurately show current developments, including an additional principle to enable compulsory acquisition of neglected and unused properties, and changing the amendments made by council which would allow items such as brothels to be allowed with consent.

“Having consolidated the number of zones from 31 to 15 in 2008 the council has mapped the existing uses within these consolidated zones,” Ms Elenius said. “What they have done in effect is to map the past.

“What they should now do is look at all the current uses within those zones and determine which of those are appropriate for a residential or a public recreation area, if they can’t fit them into those 15 zones they should create new ones.”

“Under the existing planning controls, community facilities like child care centres, jetties and kiosks are already permitted in open space zones, as long as they complement the primary recreational purpose of the area,” the City of Sydney spokesperson said. “Under the new city plan, there will be little effective change in Pyrmont.”

“I don’t think that you can call the maps they have produced as anything but a reflection of the past,” Ms Elenius said. “It’s a mapping exercise for the past, not a plan for the future.”

The Draft LEP comes off exhibition on April 4.