Council has received a proposal to rezone the Chatswood Post Office site.

This is the second planning proposal for 45 Victor Street. The previous proposal 2012/2 was reported to the Council meeting of 17 June 2013. At the request of Australia Post, the report was withdrawn from the meeting.

The purpose of the Planning Proposal is to amend Willoughby Local Environmental Plan 2012 (WLEP 2012) to allow shop top housing to occur on the site by adding “shop top housing” as an additional permitted use in Schedule 1 of WLEP 2012 while retaining the Commercial Core B3 zoning for the site.

The development standards for the site requested in the Planning Proposal are:

• Increase the maximum height limit from 12 metres (about RL 106.5) to 141 metres (RL 235). The report advises this provides for a building that is approximately 42  storeys in height plus a plant room. (This height is similar to the Chatswood Interchange eastern tower or approximately 1 ½ times the height of the Sebel).
• Remove the floor space ratio control for the site (currently 2.5:1) to allow the building to be defined by a building envelope.
• Require a minimum of 2,066m2 of gross floor space in non-residential commercial use that would include a Post Office shop on the ground floor.

The indicative concept plans and report accompanying the Planning Proposal indicate that this would deliver approximately 300 residential units on the site in addition to the 2,066m2 of retail and office floor space.

The Officer’s Recommendation is that the Planning Proposal not be supported and the proponent be advised accordingly.