Mosman: Sydney NIMBY Suburb Goes to War over Density Reform

When NSW’s Low and Mid-Rise reforms were revealed, the NIMBY hotbed Mosman in Sydney’s eastern suburb—where house price medians hover at $5.5 million—went nuclear. There are 13 applications filed in the suburb under the LMR policy, which would deliver 295 apartments. However, eight of those are already before the NSW Land and Environment Court after being refused or deemed refused, creating another troubled chapter after a policy rollout tainted by confusion and delay . As the DAs started rolling in, the cracks began to show, Urbis partner Andrew Harvey says. “The (Mosman) Council, seeing all these applications coming in and increasing public interest from the community, started asking how they could best manage this emerging situation,” Harvey says. ▲ Urbis director of planning Andrew Harvey: Cracks began to show. Long considered an anti-development local government area, the LMR reforms, which stipulated higher density with height and floor space ratio uplifts within up to 800m of town centres and transport hubs, “sparked a rush of developer interest” in Mosman. But the Mosman Council sought exclusion from LMR entirely, while community group Mosman Matters pursued legal action—only standing down when the council announced last month an alternative scheme was in the works. Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully told The Urban Developer that the attempt to trigger a rise of the “missing middle” through the LMR was about removing “restrictive policies and regulations [which had] run rampant”. The hidden cost of deemed refusal Behind the planning fight is the commercial pressure on developers. Several industry sources told The Urban Developer that sites have already been amalgamated, design teams appointed, consultants paid and reports prepared, with one source saying developers are “bleeding money”. And instead of a clearer pathway, they are ending up in court, adding legal expenses to the cost of developing a site. Few developers are willing to discuss the issue publicly while court proceedings or planning negotiations remain active, fearing that they could damage approval prospects or settlement talks with consent authorities as Mosman tries to regain control with its own masterplan. Mosman fights LMR policy Taking its cues from Ku-ring-gai Council—which developed its own TOD masterplan to replace the government-led version —Mosman is spending $340,000 to develop the masterplan—and the state appears amenable to the idea. “The real question is how many homes it could provide based on those anticipated under the original LMR plans, which was determined by DPHI to be 4700 apartments,” Harvey says. ▲ A rendering of a project filed with the Mosman Council under the LMR that would deliver 103 units on Rangers Avenue. “The department said if you’re going to do this masterplan, then that is the anticipated home count we’re expecting.” Under its allocation of National Housing Accord targets, Mosman had previously needed to add just 500 homes by 2029. “Many residents and the council believe that is a significant jump in home targets compared to previous strategic planning initiatives,” Harvey says. Mosman Council’s density redistribution plans While details are still being shaken out, the masterplan details two options. The first “low and wide” option proposes housing redistributed around the local centre, emphasising gradual height transitions up to 20 storeys. Mosman Council masterplan option 1 Option two aims for “high and narrow” densification, concentrating uplift along the Military and Spit Road corridor and at Spit Junction, and could mean buildings of up to 28 storeys. The two options affect a reduced areas, which account for less than half the area affected by the government-led LMR, which covers 27 per cent of the local authority area. “The state government-led LMR is a lot more spread out, so what we’re seeing is many more single residential dwellings being amalgamated,” Harvey says. Mosman Council masterplan option 2 “And it’s a lot easier for a developer to deal with a smaller number of residents and put together a site.” But the reality is more challenging, with many sites fragmented in terms of ownership. “So the real question is, are all those incentives enough for a group of 50 to 100 strata owners to come together and sell to a developer, and is that going to be attractive to a developer?” Developers stuck in planning limbo Ku-ring-gai left developers waiting for more than a year as it developed a TOD plan, and Mosman appears to be doing the same. The council predicts a two-year process to formalisation. ▲ A 27-unit project planned for Mosman that went to the Land and Environment Court. “People may have already bought sites, and now they are in a tricky position and will need to obviously proceed pretty quickly with lodging applications before there is any kind of formality around the alternative plan,” Harvey says. Next steps for Mosman masterplan The plan right now is currently a simple approach to whether the council would prefer to redistribute density, but there are still major planning concerns which have not yet been considered in the masterplan, including social impact and traffic analysis. “There will inevitably be some winners and losers depending on the density outcomes in the current LMR arrangement, and different ‘alternative’ plans put forward by the council,” Harvey says. “For developers who are looking at sites, it’s going to create a little bit more confusion and lack of clarity as to whether there’s a confidence to move ahead, which is the challenge. “There’s a lot more to come.”

Mosman: Sydney NIMBY Suburb Goes to War over Density Reform

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