The Sydney suburb that fought 150 new units – and ended up with 130

Residents of a world-renowned model Australian suburb won the first battle in their fight to stop a high-rise twin-tower development but now fear they might still end up losing the war.

Although the state government intervened to ask the developer of two proposed 13-to-15-storey apartment buildings at the entrance of the north shore’s Castlecrag to revise its $250 million plans, because of “an excess in height, bulk and scale”, the community now has no more rights to object.

And, as they feared, developer Conquest has made minor amendments to the proposal from 150 to 130 apartments and to reduce it to 13/11 storeys, leaving residents outraged and unable to protest.

“The developer has changed the plans in a way that won’t make much difference at all but we don’t have the right to comment on new plans,” said local Tim Donahoo, 65, secretary of the Castlecrag Progress Association and a manager of Cricket NSW. “But while we understand the need for more housing and are happy to accept a development – we aren’t NIMBYs – Castlecrag is unique in Australia in terms of its low-rise design and integration into the natural environment.

“It was drawn up by world-famous American architect and landscape designer Walter Burley Griffin and his architect wife Marion Mahony Griffin, and people come here from all around the globe to see it, so any development has to be appropriate.”

After a long community consultation, locals originally agreed to an initial plan for a three-to-five-storey, mixed 38-apartment and retail project on the site of the old Quadrangle shopping centre at the entrance to the heritage conservation area.

After delays, however, the bulldozed site was sold to a second developer, Conquest, and with the launch of the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) last year to fast-track state-significant developments, the proposal was super-sized to triple the height, with 150 units. After the state planning department objected, it was trimmed to 130 units.

Despairing locals say they could still be willing to consider a smaller project. “I think the community would accept somewhere between five and 10 storeys, subject to the design,” said Donahoo. “Not everyone would be happy but there’d probably be a reluctant acceptance.”

A representative of Conquest said chief executive and founder Michael Akkawi wasn’t prepared to comment while the application was still going through planning; only after a decision had been made.

A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Planning said it would consider the response from the developer.

Residents say they’re trapped in the stalemate, with nothing but a giant hole to ponder after the developer dug down two storeys for parking.

Neighbour Howard Townsend, 58, a project manager in the construction industry, said it’s not as if it’s part of a major transport hub. “We only have a couple of buses in the suburb at peak times, one to the city and the other to North Sydney,” he said. “It’s not even a town centre.

“There were over 1000 submissions objecting to the development as proposed and there’s only around 1000 homes in Castlecrag.”

The suburb was built in the 1920s, according to the blueprint by the Griffins, the couple who produced Canberra’s master plan as a model suburb. It includes the 50-hectare Griffin Heritage Conservation Area, to preserve the low-rise area and its tree canopy.

But that abuts the site of the proposed development, so some argue that the need for new homes to help solve the housing crisis should be paramount.

University of Sydney associate professor Cameron Logan, who teaches heritage conservation, argues that, since the site is outside that heritage area, having a development of a different scale will not harm the suburb.

“It’s hard to say that having something outside an area, even though it can be seen by the area, will be detrimental to its character,” he said. “Many people now say that, as an alternative to making new dwellings connect to transport hubs, it’s just as desirable to have them close to the natural environment.

“I can see the previous development proposed before the HDA came along was more sensitive and texturally appropriate, and this may well be more of an ambit claim. But it doesn’t seem the most outrageous destruction of heritage to me.”

Objectors include the Walter Burley Griffin Society, Willoughby Council, local member Tim James and a number of international academics. At the National Trust of Australia, director of conservation David Burdon is outraged.

“Castlecrag is one of the most unique suburbs in Australia,” he said. “It is our opinion that a proposal of this scale is unsympathetic to the landscape and heritage conservation values of this unique suburb, and that the negative impacts on the character of the area are unacceptable.”

Architect and architectural historian Scott Robertson of Robertson & Hindmarsh is furious. “It’s appalling and totally inappropriate and belongs somewhere where there’s a railway station and existing much higher density,” he said.