Burnside Village Expansion

Burnside Village Expansion

Published on 28 February 2019

Q What is the Burnside Village Masterplan?

It’s the first proposal in Burnside Village’s 45-year history for an integrated development for the entire site. The Masterplan strives to enhance the village atmosphere with extensive planting and landscaping and create a series of new retail precincts offering new specialty stores, fresh food, cafes and dining, leisure and entertainment and personal and wellness services.

The proposal complies with the planning policies that apply to the site.

If approved, it would be pursued in two or more stages over a 10-year period.

The first stage (known as Stage Six) proposes a new Greenhill Road frontage with two levels of retail, anchored by a cinema at Sydney Street, along with an alfresco dining precinct. This stage includes commercial space at the northeastern corner.

Q Will there be more car parking?

As part of the upgrade Burnside Village is reconfiguring and expanding its car parking, adding another 850 parking spaces to its existing parking facilities.

Q Will the centre increase in height?

Burnside Village is located on a sloping site and is made up of buildings of different scales and heights. The proposal creates a variety of spaces of differing heights. The height of development across 85% of the site would be consistent with the current height of the Atrium Mall.

The Greenhill Road / Portrush Road corner has been identified in the planning policy for a potential landmark. As a result, above the two levels of retail shops, five storeys of commercial/office space for personal, health and wellness services, is proposed for this corner of the site, to be built in two stages over 10 years. This landmark corner building would be seven levels on completion.

Pending market demand, the second stage would also add two levels of car parking towards the Portrush Road / Cator Street corner and one level of commercial space set back from the corner.

Q How will such a large centre fit in with the leafy surroundings of Burnside? 

The Cohen Group has advised Council they’ve been very conscious of maintaining the village character in this proposal. Extensive landscaping and plantings throughout the centre are proposed, including planting 45 mature trees around the perimeter of the centre.

Q Is Council assessing the development application?

No. A project of this scale is typically assessed by the Department of Planning’s State Coordinator General and the State Commission Assessment Panel. That process is now underway. Council has the opportunity to provide a formal response for the State Coordinator General to consider during the assessment process.

Q What influence does Council have over the application?

The Cohen Group has been in discussions with Council since 2014/2015 about the potential to expand Burnside Village. The proposal lodged for planning assessment incorporates feedback and suggestions from Elected Members and the Executive Team.

In its capacity as a referral authority, Council will also provide a response for the State Coordinator General to consider in the assessment process.

Q Will the community be able to have a say on this proposal?

The Cohens have also liaised with residents during the past few months to advise them of the proposal and to answer any questions they may have.

Under DPTI’s notification process, those living within a 60m radius of the centre will be notified of the application and invited to make comment.

The Cohen Group will then respond to community feedback and if necessary, amend its application.

Q Will any trees be removed?

It’s proposed that two, possibly three, trees contained within the Burnside Village property would need to be removed so that the flood mitigation and stormwater infrastructure (which affects the adjacent Sydney Street neighbourhood) can be upgraded to cope with a 1-in-100-year flood event. The engineers and arborists endeavoured to find alternative solutions, but none could negate the risk to the trees without increasing the risk of flooding to the adjacent neighbourhood. We are trying to preserve the third tree, but it may also need to be removed.

As a shopping centre, public safety is paramount and we cannot take a risk that these trees will be adversely affected by the stormwater upgrade. After extensive consideration, we have regrettably taken the difficult decision early and are applying to remove these trees.

Q What will be the impact on traffic around the centre? And during construction?

Traffic modeling indicates a low impact on traffic. The application includes additional car parking spaces, new and reconfigured vehicle entry points to assist traffic flow, and proposed upgrades to selected intersections.

During construction, a traffic management plan will be put in place to minimise disruption. It is inevitable that there will be some short-term disruption arising from a project of this nature.

Q When would construction start? When would the expansion open?

Pending planning approval, construction of Stage Six would begin late this year and be completed by late 2021.

Stage Seven would be pursued some years later, pending retailer demand and would likely be completed in the period 2025 to 2028.

Burnside Village will be posting updates at http://burnsidevillage.com.au/news/burnside- village-future-development-news