Parramatta’s aspirations to build NSW’s tallest residential tower may be cut down to size following concerns by aviation authorities.
A report to council recommends it ditch all reference of a ‘‘maximum building height of 306 metres’’ from its planning proposal for ‘‘Aspire’’ – a 90-storey building comprising 700 apartments, a 150-room hotel, sky deck and public ‘‘experience centre’’ in the heart of its CBD.
The ‘‘iconic’’ building is to be the centrepiece of the council’s rebranded ‘‘Parramatta Square’’ development, which replaces the ill-fated $1.6 billion Civic Place proposal that was scrapped as unviable in 2012.
Council’s chief executive Greg Dyer said next week’s meeting would consider whether to replace Aspire's maximum height with a minimum of 243 metres – between 60 and 80 storeys – ‘‘in light of early feedback from aviation authorities’’.
Groups including Air Services Australia, Sydney Airport, Bankstown Airport and the Australian Government Civil Aviation Safety Authority told council a 306-metre building would ‘‘protrude’’ into landing and take-off corridors used by planes under some conditions, the report said.
Council, which owns the Church Street site, would use the planning proposal in its bid to increase the existing maximum building height limit of 200 metres for Parramatta’s CBD before a development application is lodged for the building.
An expressions of interest process to select a developer to deliver the project will begin next month.
Mr Dyer said while the change was intended to give potential bidders for the project ‘‘definitive planning framework to help them develop proposals,’’ the tower’s height would ultimately be determined by the proponent.
‘‘It is certainly possible that the aviation authorities’ concerns could be successfully addressed through negotiations and discussions with the developer,’’ Mr Dyer said.
Mr Dyer said the proposed new minimum height limit would still ensure Aspire ‘‘would be iconic for Parramatta, western Sydney and the entire Sydney region’’.
It would also still snatch the mantle of Sydney’s tallest residential tower from the Greenland Centre, a 64-storey tower that will soar 235 metres above Bathurst Street when it is completed in 2018.
But a less ambitious building could also curtail some of the promised features of Aspire.
The report recommends council remove the mandatory reference to an "education facility" - the experience centre and sky deck with views out to Goat Island - because ‘‘the provision of such a facility may not have the same effect’’ at a lower height.
