"Neighbors in a spin over Sydney airport upgrade"

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Neighbours in a spin over airport upgrade
By Darren Goodsir
Australia - The Sydney Morning Herald


Five councils have united to protest against the proposed transformation of
Sydney Airport's grounds with commercial office towers, a retail complex and
two 12-storey car parks.

The mayors and councillors from Ashfield, Botany Bay, Canada Bay,
Marrickville and Randwick met this week to discuss the potential impact of
the upgrade, including concerns over property values, increased traffic and
a downturn in trade for local shopkeepers.

They criticised a lack of consultation over the project, which has just been
put on public display, and accused Sydney Airports Corporation of failing to
respond to multiple requests for meetings.

Only two of the five councils border the airport's land, but all of them
believe residents and businesses will be seriously affected by the changes,
mainly through extra traffic volumes.

But no local government body is involved in deciding whether to approve the
development. That falls to the federal Transport Minister, John Anderson,
who has sole authority to reject, alter or approve any changes to structures
or operating conditions on Commonwealth land.

The Mayor of Botany, Ron Hoenig, said the councils shared deep concerns over
what amounted to the biggest change to the airport's functions since the new
owner, a Macquarie Bank-led consortium, took control in 2002.

"We anticipate potential declines in land values for property owners and
increased traffic movements and congestion," Cr Hoenig said.

The group of councils has pledged to approach local chambers of commerce and
state and federal politicians to seek a review of the proposal - and to
raise safety concerns relating to the height of the structures.

The centrepiece of the airport plan is the construction of two 12-storey car
parks, capable of holding an extra 8000 vehicles, near the international
terminal.

Anticipating huge growth in passengers, vehicle trips and visitors to the
airport over the next decade, the towers will be built on a two-hectare site
at the south-eastern corner of the existing car park and only 100 metres
from the entrance to the train station.

There would also be two nine-storey commercial office towers, with 18,000
square metres of floor space capable of also housing a hotel, car wash and
retail outlets.

An airport spokeswoman, Shannon Kliendienst, said councils had been
consulted and all of their submissions were carefully considered. A revised
plan had been submitted to Mr Anderson's office for approval, Ms Kliendienst
said.

Since buying the airport for $5.6 billion, its management has embarked on a
range of new commercial ventures, including the imposition of a $2 taxi levy
last month to fund improvements.

The development plan, which includes the car park, has been on public
exhibition for the past 90 days, as required under federal environmental and
planning laws.

The airport's owner believes more than 60 million passengers a year, almost
triple the current volume, will travel to and from the terminals by 2020.

It is confident such prolific growth will be able to fit in with existing
curfew restraints and the cap of 80 flights per hour because of more
efficient scheduling and larger aircraft.


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