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Kogarah Council's current planning instruments and development controls address the need to provide a wider range of housing choice. Below is a summary of key provisions in Council's planning instruments and development control plans.
Kogarah Local Environmental Plan 1998 (KLEP 98)
KLEP 1998 identifies a number of areas in the Kogarah Council area as being in the Residential 2(b) Residential (Medium Density) Zone. Most of these areas are in close proximity to shopping, commercial areas, transport and medical services. These areas have all been reviewed as part of the preparation and implementation of Council's housing strategy.
In the Residential 2(a) Residential (Low Density) Zone, there is express provision made allowing housing older people and people with disability with consent and other forms of housing that meet their needs.
Listed as permitted with consent are: dwelling houses; group homes; hospitals; housing for older people or people with a disability; nursing homes (except within the foreshore scenic protection area or the waterfront scenic protection area) and attached dual occupancies.
The definition of housing for older people or people with a disability includes residential care facilities and hostels and groupings of 2 or more self contained dwellings.
In the Residential 2(b) Residential Medium Density Zone permitted with consent is each of the uses permitted in the Residential 2(a) Zone as well as multi unit housing and boarding houses. It should be noted that most land zoned the Residential 2(b) Medium Density is located in close proximity to public transport, services and facilities and is thus highly appropriate to the needs of older people and people with a disability.
The Business 3(a) Business (Local Centre) Zone permits with consent all types of accommodation that is suitable for older people or people with a disability as none of these is shown as prohibited. Similarly in the Business 3(b) (Town Centre) Zone, except that dwelling houses are prohibited.
In the Special Uses 5(a) Special uses (General) and the Special Uses 5(b) (Railway) Zone, housing for older people and people with a disability is permitted with consent.
Kogarah Local Environmental Plan Amendment No. 2
KLEP 98 Amendment No. 2 was introduced in 1999. It allows a variety of housing under specified circumstances in the Residential 2(a) Residential (Low Density) zone, including detached dual occupancies on corner sites, multi unit housing in the form of villas and town houses on certain sites and terrace housing. The sites upon which such housing is permitted are distributed throughout the Council area. The LEP includes a clause which enables Council to identify on a map in a DCP specifically created for the purpose of a clause within the LEP sites upon which villas will be permitted in the Residential 2(a) zone.
Kogarah Local Environmental Plan Amendment No. 24
KLEP 98 Amendment No.24 was gazetted on 28 March, 2002. It permits additional dwellings in the form of extended family units on all sites the Residential 2(a) Low Density Residential Zone.
Extended family unit means "a dwelling or part of a building no larger than 65 square metres in area that is attached to or within another dwelling and in which facilities for cooking, sleeping and washing are included, but where clothes washing facilities for use in connection with the dwelling or part of the building may be provided on a shared basis".
An extended family unit is thus what many people refer to as a "granny flat". The extended family unit cannot be subdivided into a separate allotment. It does not require additional parking to that required for the principal dwelling.
As the LEP has only recently been gazetted, it is not clear what the uptake rate will be, however as shown in the Close to Home report, the majority of elderly live in a home situation and thus it is likely that there will be a demand for this type of unit as a means of meeting the housing needs of elderly people or people with a disability.
BETTER HOME DESIGN GUIDE
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT CONTROL PLAN
This development control plan provides controls for residential development throughout the Kogarah Council area including dwelling houses, dual occupancies, villas, townhouses, terrace houses and all form of multi unit housing, including housing built under KLEP 98 Amendment No. 2 and extended family units built under KLEP 98 Amendment No. 24.
In Part 2, Step 7, it encourages all who are contemplating building in the Kogarah Council area to consider future needs and use of housing.
In Part 5.10 is headed Adaptable Housing, it encourages all who are contemplating building to consider incorporating adaptable housing features, and sets requirements for adaptable housing. It mandates the requirement to provide adaptable housing in all multi unit developments with five or more residential units and identifies the relevant Australian Standard with which such housing is to comply ie class C AS 4299 and AS1428.
The minimum number of adaptable units to be provided is shown in the table below, which is extracted from Part 5.10 of the Better Home Design Guide.
Total Number of Dwellings in Development Minimum Number of Adaptable Units 5-10 1 11-20 2 21-30 3 31-40 4 41-50 5 Over 50 6 plus 10% of additional dwellings beyond 60 rounded up to the nearest whole number
The Better Home Design Guide includes Advisory Information to further assist applicants understand controls and requirements in the DCP. A section on adaptable housing is included.
Part 5.11 of the Better Home Design Guide sets requirements for Access for People with a Physical Disability to multi unit housing.
Part 5.6 deals with Parking, Site Access, Circulation and Storage. It requires the provision of designated disabled parking spaces and sets design requirements for such parking and for spaces for each adaptable unit and indicates that no additional parking is required for an extended family unit.
The Better Home Design Guide applies to all residential development in the Kogarah Council area, except Kogarah Town Centre.
RELEVANT REQUIREMENTS IN KOGARAH TOWN CENTRE DCP, HURSTVILLE TOWN CENTRE DCP AND HURSTVILLE SOUTH DCP.
These DCPs set generous minimum unit sizes (requiring what is now frequently referred to as 'oversized' units) and require that all residential buildings that have access to more than two storeys have lift access. This ensures manoeuvrability and accessibility. Residential units in areas that fall within the areas covered by the Hurstville Town Centre DCP and the Hurstville South DCP are required to comply with the requirements of the Better Home Design Guide to the extent that its application is consistent with the requirements of each of these DCPs. Sections on access, parking design and adaptable housing in the Better Home Design are thus relevant.
The Kogarah Town Centre DCP includes a section on accessibility which requires compliance with various relevant standards and compliance with Council's requirements for adaptable housing.
The Better Home Design Guide includes in the appendices, maps which show the housing forms that are permitted in each area within the Residential 2(b) Residential Medium Density Zone. Consideration of those maps indicates that within this zone, provision is made for a range of housing types including areas which permit villas only; a combination of villas and townhouses; an option of two storey townhouses and two storey residential flat buildings; three and four storey residential flat buildings.
The Kogarah Town Centre DCP, Hurstville Town Centre DCP and Hurstville South DCP permit high rise residential flat building or mixed developments.
Kogarah's planning instruments and development control plans thus provide the wide range of housing choice that is sought by local residents and take into account the needs of older people and people with a disability. They provide housing options throughout the Council area and provide the greatest options and quantities of medium density close to transport, retail and commercial centres.
OUR SUPPLY
General Based on the 1996 census the supply of housing is as follows: Type of Dwelling Number of Dwellings Percentage of dwellings in Kogarah LGA Houses 11,612 62.8 % Semi-detached, Villas, Townhouses 1,442 7.8 % Flats, Units and Apartments 4,801 25.9 % Total 17855 96.5% (Source: ABS: B14(1996)
Council does not have figures for development approvals for 1996-1998.
However since 1998 an additional 2061 additional multi unit dwellings have been approved and 71 dual occupancies. Of the approved multi unit dwellings, 140 are designed to adaptable housing standard class C as set out in AS4299, as required by Council's current development controls. A map is appended that shows the location of approved developments with adaptable housing units. The majority of these units are in locations close to transport, services and facilities.
Projections based on current zonings and current development controls
Council commissioned consultants (Kim Kennedy and Associates) to estimate the projected future development capacity of commercial and medium density zones in the Kogarah Council area for the purposes of preparing and updating section 94 plans.
These estimates are market adjusted. That is the estimates are not just a theoretical possible capacity that includes all land that is zoned for future development but rather are adjusted to take into consideration land which is feasible to develop under current market conditions and under current planning controls ie land that is more valuable as a development site than its current usage, and thus is likely to be available for development. Additional estimates were made of potential development capacity for dual occupancies, infill development and housing for older people or people with a disability, taking account of uptake trends.
The table below shows estimated development potential in the Kogarah Council area. Area or housing type Projected additional dwellings Kogarah Town Centre 1160 Hurstville Town Centre 378 Hurstville South area 205 Residential 2(b) Medium Density Zone 1798 Infill housing 40 Dual occupancies 30 Housing for older/disabled people 80 Total 3691
It should be noted that the actual figures for infill, dual occupancies and housing for older people and people with a disability are very elastic and thus responsive to market as there is a large number of available sites upon which such development can potentially take place whereas the supply of land for redevelopment in the Kogarah Town Centre, Hurstville Town Centre, Hurstville South area and the Residential 2(b) medium density zone are more finite.
As current controls require in excess of 10% of all multi unit housing be adaptable housing, then it can be expected under current controls that over 355 additional adaptable units will be available.
Public Housing The NSW Department of Housing provides statistics on the level of public housing stock and public housing tenants in the Kogarah Municipality. Figures from June 1997 reveal that Kogarah has little public housing in the municipality (193 dwellings), but significant demand for public housing. However there are features of the Kogarah Council area and the St George region (such as the fact that the areas are largely developed, the land is costly and there are few sizeable landholdings available for development), which are likely to prevent any major increase in public housing unless there are substantial policy and budgetary changes at State and Federal government level.
Using the 1996 Census figures, public housing makes up only 1.1% of the total number of dwellings in the Kogarah LGA.
The majority of dwellings in Kogarah are privately provided. Emphasis on providing housing stock for the elderly will largely be provided by the private market.
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