The submission said the revised building heights would create “blocky building typologies,bulking out the proposed envelopes”,and a “monoculture of buildings[and] more uniform building heights”.
“A greater diversity in building heights should be explored to relate the building heights to the surrounding landform public views and topography.”
The council argued the proposal should be referred to the NSW Independent Planning Commission.
The Heritage Council of NSW said the plan’s “excessive bulk” would impact the heritage values of Millers Point and Observatory Hill “in terms of setting,views and their historic relationship with the waterfront”.
Safeguarding this “primary gateway to the historic Sydney CBD” was critical,the advisory body said.
“This scheme atop the previous modification approvals has the combined effect of simply further compromising the already substantially impacted rare and irreplaceable cultural landscape.”
The Millers Point Community Residents Action Group said the “interests of developers and influential lobbies had eroded public confidence in the government and its planning processes with each escalation in height,bulk,[gross floor area],and number of buildings at Barangaroo South”.
“Such practices cannot be permitted to persist at Central Barangaroo,where the stakes for heritage preservation are higher,” the residents’ group said.
Independent MP Greenwich said the harbour was a publicly owned asset that should be protected. He said the proposal “fails to comply with this principle and by contrast seeks to maximise private gains”.
Greenwich is pushing for a reduction in the height,bulk and scale of the project.
“The community has already suffered from excessive development uplift at Barangaroo
South,which has resulted in significant impacts on the foreshore,public space,heritage and
adjacent homes,” he said.
Aqualand’s group head of development,Ian Devereux,said guidance from the government had provided a much greater focus on the public dividend recently,including through “improved view sharing,more generous public spaces,and greater connectivity through the precinct”.
“Our hope now is that we have come to the end of the planning journey,and we can get on with delivering an exceptional outcome at Central Barangaroo.”
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The Planning Department will consider the submissions before making a recommendation on the proposal to Planning and Public Spaces Minister Paul Scully.
Scully said on Friday the plan,known as Mod 9,was still being assessed,and no decision had been made.
Lands and Property Minister Steve Kamper has previously said Central Barangaroo will become the “cultural and civic heart” of Barangaroo.
Aqualand hopes to complete the project in 2029.