Updated Option One - North West View
The former Port Kembla School Site has been rezoned to R3 Medium Density Residential and RE2 Private Recreation to provide a diversity of housing choice, including affordable housing close to the Port Kembla Town Centre as well as a park space for private and public use.
Development of this site was previously very difficult to achieve with a Mixed Use zone requiring ground floor commercial across the site and housing above. Council identified in its Port Kembla 2505 Revitalisation Plan that this site should be rezoned to residential to support the revitalisation of Wentworth Street and provide additional housing for residents to be able to walk or commute to Wentworth Street and other services available in Port Kembla.
Following Council’s adoption of the Planning Proposal and Development Control Plan (DCP), a Planning Agreement will also be in place to provide 5% Affordable Housing on site. Lauren Turner, Manager of Town Planning & Advisory at MMJ Real Estate Wollongong, provided Town Planning services for this project and said “The master plan demonstrates how the built form will be designed and distributed to provide appropriately scaled interfaces to areas of heritage significance and the existing adjacent residential development while optimising key views from the site, maximising solar access and mitigating against potential noise from the Port at Port Kembla and associated industry.”
The rezoning of this site has been in the works for several years and the MMJ Town Planning & Advisory team is proud to reach this milestone for our local client. The development of the masterplan and proposed development controls required the collaboration of expert consultants in urban design, heritage, town planning, noise, environmental and contamination to coordinate the various site considerations and provide design responses to the heritage and noise constraints. Lauren noted that “the development of the site will acknowledge and respond to the arrangement of the former Port Kembla School buildings and celebrate the shared heritage value of the site through interactive interpretation outcomes. The residential development will be set within a high-quality public domain, integrated with heritage interpretation opportunities and pedestrian connections.”
In recognition of being listed as a Key Site in WLEP 2009 due to its prominence and heritage values, the site will be developed in line with the adopted DCP Chapter for the former Port Kembla School site to deliver up to 110 dwelling high standard dwellings in the form of multi dwelling housing, terraces, and apartment buildings. The next steps include the preparation of Development Applications to be submitted to Council for residential development consistent with the Masterplan and Council’s adopted DCP Chapter.
More information about the exhibited draft Planning Proposal and draft DCP Chapter is available from Wollongong City Council’s website: https://lnkd.in/g2iR6tmg