The development of 550 new homes at Corrimal coke works will be allowed to go ahead, after the NSW Government gave the green light to a rezoning plan for the old industrial site.
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On Friday, the NSW Department of Planning approved the rezoning of 18 hectares of former industrial land for residential and open space.
This will make way for hundreds of homes and a small neighbourhood centre with a supermarket and cafes, offices, and an outdoor amphitheatre.
Department of Planning and Environment executive director of local and regional planning Malcolm McDonald said the rezoning would make way for a major transformation of the old industrial site.
"The coke works ceased operations in 2014, with the site vacant ever since," Mr McDonald said.
"We want to bring this derelict land into the 21st century by providing 550 new homes and nine hectares of parklands close to existing services, including Corrimal Railway Station.
"A range of housing types would be offered, including townhouses and apartment blocks up to four storeys, with provision for 35 affordable dwellings."
Mr McDonald said repurposing the former Coke Works strikes the right balance between rolling out new infrastructure, while protecting the environment and industrial heritage.
"The intersection of Memorial Drive and Railway Street would be upgraded to ease congestion and improve safety for motorists and pedestrians," he said.
"The site's character would be retained by preserving two iconic chimney stacks, coke ovens and the old powerhouse building. Half of the land is reserved for green space, complete with footpaths and cycleways for local residents and visitors to enjoy."
The rezoning approval was needed before any development application, which will allow the Illawarra Coke Company to start construction, can be lodged.
Mr McDonald said the DA approvals process would involve "extensive community consultation".
Originally the developers - the Illawarra Coke Company and Legacy Property - wanted to build 736 dwellings, mostly in apartment blocks, at the Railway Street site when they submitted their first draft planning proposal request in October 2017.
However, due to concerns about over-development, traffic and congestion from the community and authorities, this has been rolled back over the past five years to allow for the current plan.
If building is approved, remediation works would be carried out prior to development, the planning department said.
President of Corrimal Community action group Anne Marrett said it was no surprise that the rezoning had been approved, but said residents from her group were disappointed there had been no changes to the plans to deal with their outstanding traffic concerns.
"The hardest thing to handle for the community is that they are not listening to the community's concerns," she said.
"The developer is not listening, the council traffic engineers are not listening and the department of planning is not listening."
She said the action group did not believe the changes which have been flagged for the intersection of Railway Street and Memorial Drive would deal with the influx of traffic form the new coke works residents, and said they would continue to make their voices heard as the development moved through the planning process.
"These traffic concerns have to be addressed," she said.
"People are selling up around here because it's going to be such a nightmare.
"What you'll see from the street and the station is something like what you'll see at Wolli Creek, with this open space, all paved, backed by endless blocks of units.
"We're going to have our own little Wolli Creek, but without the rail service they have at Wolli Creek - with one hourly train [at Corrimal station]."
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
