Tuesday 7 October 2014

Plans for Sydney housing without carparks

Controversial proposal sparks anger but NSW govt says move will help cut up to $56k from property prices
By Jonathan Pearlman, For The Sunday Times In Sydney, 5 Oct 2014

Soaring property prices and growing traffic congestion in Sydney have prompted a controversial proposal to allow apartment buildings to be built without any parking spaces for cars.

The move in some areas of the sprawling, car- dependent city has triggered anger, with critics saying Sydney's public transport is not good enough and many people will be left with cars for which they are unable to find places to park.

The proposal was introduced by the state government of New South Wales, which said Sydney's 4.8 million residents are increasingly giving up on using cars and opting for walking, public transport or cycling.

It said the changes will help to cut up to A$50,000 (S$55,700) from property prices.

"A car space can add up to A$50,000 to the cost of a new apartment, so providing more flexibility around car parking requirements could lead to savings of up to the same amount for homebuyers," the state's planning minister, Ms Pru Goward, said in a statement.

The proposal was set out in a new development planning guide released last month by the state's Department of Environment and Planning.

The guide said an increasingly number of people in Sydney - particularly those under the age of 35 - are no longer using cars.

Government data showed that the proportion of 25-year-olds in the state with a driver's licence has dropped from 84 per cent to 74 per cent between 1998 and 2009.

The proposal would apply to new developments within 400m of transport hubs such as railway stations, bus interchanges and light rail stops.

The rules would not apply to the entire city but to 22 designated council areas, which are mainly densely populated and in the inner city.

But the proposal in this city of badly connected public transport services drew a mixed response.

An expert on geography and urban housing, Dr Louise Crabtree, from the University of Western Sydney, told The Sunday Times: "Trips from the outer suburbs to the city (CBD) are very hard to make without a car.

"Until we address that, it will be very hard to get people out of their cars."

Currently, the number of parking spaces required per apartment is typically set by local councils.

Many councils require one off-street space per apartment, plus a number of overflow spots for visitors.

The proposal prompted anger from some of the ruling coalition's own MPs, who said it would not ease congestion but will force people to park on the street or at parking stations.

"If people buy an apartment without parking, what will happen is people will just park around the corner," state MP Ray Williams told Sydney's Daily Telegraph.

"It is just shifting the problem to someone else."

But property developers and some architects welcomed the cost reduction for new developments, noting that building underground parking is often the most expensive part of construction costs.

Mr Chris Johnson, the chief executive of an organisation that represents developers, the Urban Taskforce, which helped develop the guidelines, said the market should be allowed to decide how many spaces are necessary for each new development.

Dr Crabtree suggested a compromise could be to include parking spaces reserved for the city's increasingly popular shared car schemes.

The government has invited public submissions on the proposal until the end of this month.


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