I would like to object to this proposed development.

My family and I live in one of the houses which is very close to this development. We moved into our home about 20 months ago, after living in rental apartments for the last 20 years prior to that. We are thankful for this house because it was not easy living in apartments with young kids, who needed more space and which this house provides. It is really helpful that we live near Lindfield station (500 metres away). Being quite close to the station allows our oldest two sons to catch a train to go to school while my husband only needs to drive the two little ones to school and not to worry about the other 2 kids. I am a teacher and I work at a school 10 minutes away.

This house is our home and we are thankful for it. When a developer approached us last year and told us to bundle up with a couple of neighbours for re-development, we said no, even when the representative told us that it wouldn't be nice living next to an apartment as they would go ahead with or without our house.

Why did I mention all these? To show that there are many families like ours, who are being affected by the rapid speed at which SSDA have been put through by developers in this area and neighbourhood. The whole process has been very rushed and very stressful. We are being forced to choose: either sell to the developers, or sell privately and move out, or to stay put but living near/next to high rise apartments and bear the impact.

Let me begin by saying that we totally support the initiative to create more affordable housing in the current housing crisis that our city is in. We want nothing more than to see our own 4 children grow up and have their own place to stay with their families in the future. So it is a false narrative to say that those who are against the SSDA are only thinking of themselves and have no concern for others affected by the rental crisis and unaffordable housing we are seeing. So we are NOT against the plan to increase the housing stock in Sydney and we are not against the TOD initiative started by the NSW Government.

What we are against is the irresponsible way we feel the whole thing is being conducted. I feel it is so rushed, not well thought through and too much power is given to those that will benefit most from this: the developers. All in the name of affordable housing, but how 'affordable' will these apartment units in the north shore really will be and how many will actually benefit from this initiative which looks good on paper, but in reality is problematic.

I think it is possible for the State government to get the required number of new dwellings without this much objection from residences if a good compromise is made: to give the local council (i.e. Kuringai) a specific number of housing to be built in the area (which the government did) AND THEN let the Council come up with the required number of housing. The Kuringai's council's 'Preferred Scenario' has strong community support as these increased dwellings are planned to be built in areas appropriate for these types of high density buildings. This makes sense since the Council is very familiar with this area AND they have done extensive community consultation. The same cannot be said about the Applicant as we missed out on the ONLY informative webinar they conducted for this SSDA because they did a rescheduling in date of the webinar and we only received an email the day before. Thus we were not able to attend this session as we were not able to change our schedule last minute. Things like this simply does not give us confidence that the Applicant has our best interest in mind. We are not pro-Kuringai Council, but I do believe the Council is more responsible, more thorough, more objective, more careful and more respected in the community to be entrusted with this task of providing more housing, in partnership with the State Government, than the developers who have a very different agenda for supporting the government TOD initiative.

Therefore to bypass the Kuringai Council for the sake of speeding up the process is counter productive because the bulk of residents who would have been ok with the Kuringai Council's preferred scenario (which will also provide the twenty plus thousand additional apartments that the government wants), are now reacting strongly to all these developers rushing and trying to get a piece of the pie without sparing much thought to the area and the residents like the Council did.

To hurry the process and undermine Kuringai Council's authority and to give much of that to the developers who have a very different agenda, is not only unwise, but also irresponsible, in my opinion. I get the logic that going through the developers will just speed things up (yes, I’m aware that there is a sense of urgency in the whole thing) but looking at the number of the inconsistency, inaccuracy and inadequacy of this applicant’s SSDA (a long list which will be submitted in a separate attachment with one of the representatives of our neighbourhood, David Walker's submission - this list is titled "Errors and Inadequacies'), it just speaks so much volume in terms of how rushed this has been, with inadequate assessment and poor / little due diligence being performed and I feel it makes a mockery of SEAR and other department guidelines for SSDA which are there as a proper check and balance.

All this to say, I object to this development proposal.

My family moved to the adjacent property in 2022, attracted by the area’s low-density character, quiet environment, and access to sunlight. Our backyard faces north, which is a key amenity allowing us to enjoy natural light throughout the year.

The proposed 9-storey development is wholly out of scale with the surrounding built environment. Its height and bulk will cause significant overshadowing of our property, materially reducing sunlight to our home and backyard. In addition, upper-level residents would have direct lines of sight into our private outdoor and indoor spaces, resulting in an unacceptable loss of privacy.

From a traffic and safety perspective, Nelson Road is a narrow street with on-street parking on both sides. When both sides are occupied, only one vehicle can pass at a time. The increased traffic generated by a development of this size would create congestion, safety hazards, and access difficulties for existing residents.

For these reasons, I strongly object to the proposal, as it fails to respect the established character of the neighbourhood, will negatively impact residential amenity, and poses traffic and safety concerns.

This development threatens the unique charm of Lindfield. Nelson Road’s quiet, heritage character will be lost to towering buildings and increased density. What was once a cohesive, human-scaled neighborhood will feel crowded and impersonal. This project doesn’t belong here—it erodes the very identity of the community.

I object to this SSDA.

Please see attachment for explanation.

I formally object to the proposed development at Nelson Road on legal and planning grounds. The application fails to comply with heritage overlay controls, exceeds permissible height limits, and imposes undue strain on existing infrastructure. It also undermines established neighborhood character, contrary to relevant planning scheme objectives and community expectations.

I am a year 11 student who lives on Tryon Road and I walk to Lindfield train station every morning with my younger brother and catch a train to school. I object to this development because I am concerned about the big increase in the number of traffic on Nelson Road, which we have to cross at least twice a day. Every time my brother and I cross Nelson road (intersection of Nelson Road and Tryon Road), we have to be very alert because there are 4 directions from which cars are approaching this awkward intersection. I don't know why, but there is no pedestrian crossing and there is no traffic light for pedestrians to use at this intersection. At the moment, we can still cross the road as the traffic is still ok and the traffic flow is not always heavy and there are gaps for us to cross safely. But with increased traffic with this proposed development, my brother and I are worried this intersection will be even worse and it will be more difficult for people to cross this intersection (best case scenario) and worst case, it’s an accident waiting to happen. Just recently, I had to help a lady with special need crossing the same intersection as she was nervous to cross this road. The fact that this apartment block is to be built so close to this intersection and having extra cars coming out from this apartment block (my dad told me there will be 251 car park spaces in the apartment) will make it really hard for the many students like myself and my brother (not to mention the elderly and those with special needs) that cross this road on daily basis (both on the way to the station/supermarket etc AND on the way home). So my brother and I object to this development.

Refer to the attached objection