Lavish plans for the centre include revitalising the existing building and an expansion with an additional 12,000sq m of retail space, a two level basement carpark and an additional rooftop parking level.
The centre is located near the intersection of Forest Way and Warringah Rd, in Frenchs Forest. Almost 100 public submissions were made to Northern Beaches Council with residents expressing concerns over the development’s impact on traffic, which would divert traffic heading towards Chatswood into congested residential streets.It resulted in the council submitting a recommendation that the planning panel refuse the DA, citing “significant increase in traffic to the local road network”, “a shortfall in onsite parking”, and “provides an inadequate front setback to the Forest Way frontage of the site”.
During the meeting resident Tom Griffiths said the recent amendments made by the developer did not “adequately address the issue of traffic along local streets”.“The development’s traffic and infrastructure has to be considered and be right for everyone. There’s still a proposal for a double exit off Grace Ave,” Mr Griffiths said.Mr Griffiths said there needed to be entry and exit points on the main road for the development to work.But planners representing the developer, Are Chemin De La Foret, urged the planning panel to “ignore” Northern Beaches Council’s recommendation.
“Yes there will be a few extra cars in Grace Ave but only for a short period before the council upgrade Grace Ave anyway. So we’ve got to put these extra few cars into context of public benefit that this project represents,” a man representing the applicant said at the meeting.The representative said the shopping centre proposal brought with it a number of key benefits, such as, jobs during the construction period, a 2,500sQ m public skypark, restaurants, childcare, office space and a gym.Further he stated: “The condition Transport for NSW has imposed is no right turn out of Russell Ave, and we’ve designed in accordance with that.
“When you look at the public benefit there are 6170 people who currently live in this catchment and there were only 100 odd objections, which is mainly around the traffic on Grace Ave.“In summary the [council’s] recommendation to refuse the application we believe is financially and politically driven. The public benefit far outweighs a few residents having to wait a few more seconds to back out of their driveway.”The applicant confirmed there was provision for the required 713 parking spaces “without relying on public parking”.
When a council staff member spoke at the meeting, he said the council’s position had not changed.“I don’t think anything I’ve heard today really changes the arguments we put out in the report. Nearly all access was closed off from Forest Way and forces that onto the local road network, that’s obviously the issue,” council staff said.“In terms of the front setback issues, we’ve seen the amendment provided by the applicant this morning. The subdivision and land dedication leaves not much there in terms of landscaped area and footpath circulation. That’s an important frontage and the main frontage people will see when they drive past and I think that’s important to get right.”The development application was initially submitted in December 2018.
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