Bayside Knocks Back 10-Storey Arncliffe Tower

Bayside Council has knocked back plans for a 10-storey residential building in Sydney’s southern suburbs, saying the development had failed to satisfy relevant planning controls and objectives.

In a letter to developers last week, Bayside said the building was too high, had not achieved design excellence, was not in the public interest, and was “likely to set an undesirable precedent”.

Further, the council’s manager for development services, Luis Melim, wrote,” the proposed scale, form and design of the development will adversely impact the integrity and setting” of a heritage-listed single-storey Victorian-Italianate cottage built in the 1890s.

West Botany Projects Pty Ltd had sought 58 apartments and basement parking in a 10-storey building at 67-73 West Botany Street, Arncliffe, about 10km south of the Sydney CBD.

According to online documents, the sole director of West Botany Projects is Mahmoud Mohanna, also the founder and director of Sydney-based property developer Buildview Corp.

As part of the application, which was first lodged with Bayside in April last year, the developers sought to consolidate four lots into a single, 2208.1sq m development site.

The developers planned to retain and restore the heritage cottage, incorporating it into the $20-million development.

The proposal sits within the Arncliffe Banksia Priority Precinct, which was rezoned from R2 Low Density Residential to R4 High Density Residential by the then NSW Department of Planning in 2018. 

▲ The developers intended to keep and restore a heritage-listed cottage from the 1890s.

In a planning assessment report prepared for Bayside, Creative Planning Solutions principal Scott McInnes said the proposal was the first application along West Botany Street under the new planning controls.

However, a Design Excellence Review Panel, which considered the application in July last year, said it could “not support the proposal in its current form”.

McInnes’s report said that at 30.25m the development contravened the area’s maximum 26.5-m height standard by 14 per cent.

The panel would not support the proposed building height, saying it was “not convinced that this option provides the optimal urban response to the site”.

The report, dated October 24, recommended the proposal be refused. Last week Bayside Council agreed.

West Botany Projects has been contacted for comment.