I write to object to the above Development Application - Residential Development with In-fill Affordable Housing - 40-48 Redan Street Mosman, Submission (SUB-111079488).
My objection is as follows:
1. The proposal relies on the Low and Medium Rise (LMR) Policy in NSW to justify increased density and scale.
2. Although the LMR Policy is intended to encourage well-located, moderate-density housing, to provide a transition between detached housing and high-rise development, and to deliver housing that is compatible with local character and heritage items. The Redan Street Development Application under the LMR Policy goes well beyond this. 
3. The scale of the proposed Redan Street development exceeds what would reasonably be characterised as “low and mid-rise” in scale.
4. The LMR Policy does not mean that development standards can be ignored, that application for variations need not be properly justified, or that local context (including amenity and environmental impacts) need not be responded to. The Redan Street Development Application does ignore development standards, and do not respond to local context.
5. While the LMR Policy allows it does not provide a blanket basis to exceed height controls without proper justification, and to ignore local amenity considerations
6. The Redan Street Development Application is an example of the developer using the LMR Policy to maximise yield rather than to deliver appropriately scaled housing contrary to the purpose of the policy, which is to increase supply while maintaining quality and livability.

I object to this proposal on the basis that it introduces a level of density and traffic generation that is not appropriate for Redan Street or the surrounding local road network. I live on a nearby street and will be directly affected by the traffic, access, and parking impacts associated with this development. While there are a number of concerns with this proposal, my primary objection relates to the traffic and parking impacts, which I do not believe have been realistically assessed.

The proposal includes 53 apartments, the majority of which are large three and four-bedroom dwellings. This type of housing typically corresponds with high levels of car ownership. In that context, the provision of 106 parking spaces is unlikely to be sufficient and will lead to ongoing overflow parking into Redan Street and surrounding streets, including my own. These are narrow residential roads that already operate with limited capacity and are not designed to absorb additional, permanent demand of this scale.

This concern is based on direct observation, not assumption. A recent development on Redan Street comprising only six units resulted in the effective loss of all available on-street parking during construction hours for an extended period. That development was significantly smaller than what is now proposed. Given that this project is substantially larger, it is reasonable to expect a much greater and more prolonged impact during construction, including restricted access for residents.

In addition, the reliance on a single access point for construction vehicles, deliveries, and resident traffic will create regular disruptions along Redan Street. Due to the narrow nature of the road and the lack of alternative routes, even short-term blockages will have a disproportionate impact on accessibility, including for residents and essential services.

Overall, the effect of this proposal is not a minor or temporary inconvenience, but a fundamental change to how the surrounding streets function. The scale of traffic generation and associated impacts are not consistent with the capacity or character of the area.

For these reasons, I do not believe the proposal is appropriate for this location and request that it be refused.

While I support development in Mosman of additional units, it needs to be in an appropriate location, and this development absolutely does NOT meet that criteria.
They have pushed the envelope to increase the height of the building by using concessions that were not meant for this type of development in this location. That they can now override Council objections is just appalling and this needs to change. The state government has implemented this policy, yet it is obviously being used by developers to ensure they are able to build as many units as possible, with no benefit to providing affordable housing. Of course these units will sell for millions and so they make high returns, but they are avoiding building in areas that need housing (Western Sydney), for this reason. I live on Military Road, across the road from Almora Street and the traffic congestion in this area is already appalling, and this would provide additional strain on the traffic management infrastructure.
High rise development of this kind, needs to be along main road corridors, with easy access to public transport. This development is NOT close to public transport, which is the key criteria for these developments.
In addition, their submission provides NO details on pricing or how the supposed affordable units will be costed and what happens after the 15 years expires?
I did not receive any notification or postcard by the developers regarding this development, it has been very dodgy how this has been presented for approval.
I urge the Major Projects to stop this development or ensure it is reduced substantially from the current proposed height and size.

1. The dwelling is far greater than any buildings near it and is more warranted to be placed along the ridge line of Mosman. This is out of scale for any buildings in the area. Redan Street is NOT the ridge line of Mosman. The main ridge line of Mosman generally follows the alignment of Military Road and Spit Road, running along the elevated spine of the suburb from Spit Junction through Mosman Village.
2. The 10 story dwelling, with its 106 car parking slots will make Redan Lane, which is only 4 metres wide, and is already used by homes and apartments will become a parking lot in itself – once a week there a 2-3 rubbish collections, which the lane is designed for, will definitely come to a halt. It is noted in the proposal that there are 200 movements per day in Redan Lane – this lane way, which is not a major throughfare, will increase the traffic from this development.
3. The state government is looking for ‘affordable housing’ – can they say that the developers are not gaining a great advantage by including 11 affordable units – it seems to be that the tenants would be something of a second class citizens with a separate access from the laneway.
4. The plans show a mid-slope condition which will lose the privacy of the neighbours as you look east.
5. For at least 2-3 years local residents who use Redan Street have had many delays, and or detours as the new apartment block has been built.
6. If this development goes ahead there will be many trucks removing rubble – Mosman roads are not meant for such an increase in truck traffic which will mean even more delays getting around our suburb.
7. It is also mentioned in the submission that the B1 bus is available. This service is consistently full of people most of the time. The state government will need to implement further transport services to meet demand.

We wish to strongly object to the development application proposed for 40-48 Redan St. We request that the State Government Authority considers all the points below.

1. This proposed development is in an area of Mosman overlooking Balmoral Beach which has long been significant in terms of the iconic landscape and the views to and from Sydney Harbour. We note that the proposed development property 40-48 Redan St, falls within the 60 metre scenic protection contour (Mosman Local Environment Plan (LEP)). We believe that this development is an eye-sore for this location and has no regard to local amenity. The proposed property would have a bulk and scale, totally inconsistent with the beautiful homes in Redan Street.

2. The photo montages contained in the Visual Impact Assessment Report shows the footprint the proposed development would have on the Balmoral landscape and the iconic views over Sydney Harbour. If allowed to proceed, this development would have a devastating and irreparably negative impact on public and residential views. The height and excessive scale of a 10 story building in this location affecting heritage homes is just wrong, when viewed from any direction.

3. Whilst we support the initiative to increase affordable housing in Mosman, we feel that given the highly valued location of this proposed development it is absurd to understand how developers can exploit this anomaly in legislation when each apartment is likely to sell for an average of $10,000,000+, hardly affordable to low or average income earners. We request that the State Government authority considers this aspect as a loophole and rejects the development in its current form.

4. There is currently a Masterplan being developed by Mosman Council whilst maintaining or improving the objectives of the State Government housing targets (as some other Sydney councils are doing). We hope this can be achieved without the need to destroy the Mosman village landscape with this unacceptable development.

5. The amount of large scale development in Mosman will already far exceed the state government targets for additional new homes and frankly the traffic congestion and lack of sufficient infrastructure will become unbearable.

We implore the State Government authority to reject or delay any approval for this development until a better plan proposed by Mosman Council has been submitted.

Yours sincerely,

John & Lesley Grenshaw

This large scale proposed development at 40-48 Redan Street Mosman takes advantage of the NSW Government's SSD pathway designed to accelerate housing supply. The inclusion of 11 temporarily affordable apartments is used to justify the generous uplift.

Developers can use this SSD Pathway "tool" to bypass councils to expedite approval. It appears developers are unconcerned about overdevelopment and demolishing many beautiful and historic local homes and therefore permanently destroying the beauty and character of Mosman.

It appears to be a money-making opportunity to capitalise on magnificent views by building luxury apartments. Recently a friend visited the Rocks and commented on the beauty and history of the area. However, had developers been successful, the area would have been demolished. We have the environmental activist, the late Jack Mundey to thank for his tireless efforts to preserve significant sites against excessive and inappropriate development.

This proposed development includes 42 luxury apartments and 2 penthouses commanding uninterrupted views over Balmoral. Of the 11 “affordable” housing, 8 are accessed through the rear service laneway.

This enormous and out of character development is shocking enough without the overshadowing, lack of privacy, lack of sun and plummeting property values for nearby residents.

Lastly the increase in density of this and other similar local developments will contribute to even more congestion of our streets plus extra cars on the street due to the inadequacy of car spaces provided for this development.

I was appalled to see this develop being proposed in Redan Street. It’s completely out of character with the other existing buildings, and it will over shadow the adjacent residences and completely block their views of the bay. The roads in this area are very busy , especially Military Road, which is often gridlocked. With the extra traffic this will occur more frequently. This development would be better in a suburb which has more public transport including light rail so that residents do not need to use cars as often.
It seems to me that development sites are chosen by Developers based on how much profit they can make. They maximise their profits at the expense of the local population. I thought these developments were for lower income people and not the rich.

Dear SSD reviewer

I object to this current project for the following reasons

1 - This massive proposed excavation of up to 10m underground into sandstone puts neighbouring homes at real risk - how is their structural integrity being protected? How will noise and vibration credibly be controlled during construction? It is likely neighbouring properties will be damaged which is against the intent of the Australian building codes
2 - The Mosman Council and LMR guidelines are there for a reason, which is to ensure developments fit into their location - the SSD process completely short circuits these protections, and the result is a proposed development that is excessive in its location and context. The Massive Bulk of the development is out of place of the local context
3 - The heritage character of the street will be ruined by a modern apartment block
4 - Scenic protection is being ignored
5 - Access to trucks during the construction via the narrow Redan Lane will create a public safety hazard
6 - There are conflicting technical reports about the impacts of the development, the cumulative effect is significant and the reports therefore lack credibility. Given the government's haste to approve projects, a more rigorous and independent technical review is required, ideally leveraging Mosman Council
7 - 'Poor door' access to the affordable housing goes against the egalitarian values of Australian society and also prevents neighbourly life within the development itself and should not be allowed

For all these reasons the development application should be refused. Thank you.

I would like to strongly object to the proposal of a major development on the site of 40 - 48 Redan Street, Mosman. The plans for a 10 storey building would be not only be totally out of context with the area, but would cause havoc to surrounding properties, obscuring their existing views, impacting traffic conditions that at times are already tight plus while the build is proceeding, the use of trucks, cranes, drilling into sandstone in such a quiet existing environment, being totally changed to the absolute opposite! Since the State Government brought in changes and introduced L MD housing and provision for low cost housing, it seems it has just opened the door for hungry developers to build larger blocks of apartments and in Mosman to take advantage of the amazing opportunity for these developments to have views out to sea and through Sydney Heads, and thereby being able to obtain premium prices while providing a nominal amount of low cost housing to tick that box! These will only be available in this category for a period of 15 years after which they will be sold at market prices. As an 80 year old lady who grew up in Mosman, I feel very sad to see that it feels like the special character of the place is being sabotaged! Of course I understand that developments must happen, but they can be done sensitively and in line with generally being somewhat aligned with the character of the area. Of course I appreciate that this is not uniquely happening in Mosman but so many suburbs close to transport and shopping centres, most of which being guilty of changing the face and character of Sydney that we love.

This huge high-rise development is submitted under the "affordable housing SSD pathway". Just 11 of 53 apartments are proposed as "affordable". The location of such a development is totally inappropriate. Redan Street is characterised by low scale residential development, heritage homes and narrow streets unsuited to a substantial increase in traffic. Redan Lane is a service road just 4 metres wide with no pedestrian path and would create chaos and unsafe conditions for larger heavy vehicles such as garbage/builders/emergency vehicles to access. The proposal also ignores the historical importance of Mosman. The site is affected by a Scenic Protection Area which includes the visual aspect of new development from both the land and the water, as well as protecting the landscape character. A 10-storey building, requiring massive ground excavation is clearly non-compliant. As a resident of Mosman for over 70 years I am appalled that such a development could be considered for an area which is already well developed with a range of housing. There are thousands of more appropriate sites fur such high-rise developments throughout Sydney. It would appear that the new guidelines are being used by wealthy developers to build multi-million dollar apartments and largely by-ass the reason for the new legislation - to build "affordable" housing. The present development is well outside any reasonable Council guidelines for height, bulk, heritage impact and traffic produced by a large increase in the local population. Robyn Bucknell