Beverly Hills Rezoning Bid Swells to 846 Homes Amid Council Rift

An enlarged state-assessed rezoning now on exhibition would create capacity for 846 apartments at Beverly Hills, up almost 70 per cent from the 500 homes envisaged when the NSW government selected the delayed proposal last year. The 1.7ha precinct covers 407-511 King Georges Road—about 20km south-west of central Sydney—between Beverly Hills railway station and Stoney Creek Road. Its exhibition has opened as the Georges River Council prepares a separate masterplan for the wider town centre, prompting an unsuccessful council bid to pause the state process. NSW endorsed the proposal for state assessment under the “unreasonably delayed” criterion in May, 2025 and publicly confirmed its selection two months later. The plans by SJB [ pictured at top ] on exhibition until August 21 distribute the 846 apartments across six potential development sites in buildings ranging from 15 to 22 storeys. That scale goes well beyond the regional planning panel’s March, 2025 recommendation for the southern sites of seven storeys, rising to nine at the southern gateway, while northern lots were excluded pending an independent review of conflicting flood and pipeline findings. Subsequent technical work has sought to resolve both constraints, although detailed investigations would still accompany future development applications. ▲ This mixed-use building at 423 King Georges Road is part of the 1.7ha Beverly Hills rezoning precinct. While flooding remains a major issue, a new assessment found it could be managed through raised ground floors, flood-resilient undercroft areas and landscaped links preserving flood storage. A high-pressure ethane line forming part of the nearby Moomba-to-Sydney pipeline had constrained development at the precinct’s northern end, but its approved conversion to natural gas prompted a hazard assessment finding negligible risk, removing an obstacle to SJB’s 22-storey, 147-home northern site. Spanning 4:1 to 7:1, proposed floor-space ratios would replace existing limits of 1.5:1 to 2:1, more than tripling permissible density in parts of the precinct. Existing E1 Local Centre zoning would change to MU1 Mixed Use, allowing high-density housing above commercial uses while requiring at least 0.4:1 non-residential floor space. Rezoning the land would create planning capacity rather than approve one 846-home project, with separate applications needed before construction. Even so, delivery would depend on amalgamating some of the 55 lots and could involve several developers; Beverly Hills Owners Association Incorporated had engaged planning consultancy Mecone to advance the earlier landowner-initiated proposal. ▲ The rezoning precinct spans 55 lots along King Georges Road between Beverly Hills railway station and Stoney Creek Road. SJB’s reference scheme also includes 6687sq m of commercial and retail floor space, new through-site links and publicly accessible open space, with employment estimated at 191 jobs. The Georges River Council unsuccessfully asked the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure to delay the exhibition until its competing masterplan progressed, arguing the state process should not run ahead of planning for the whole centre. Tche ouncil’s February, 2025 approach would limit planning changes, building heights and floor-space uplift on the western side because of flooding concerns, in contrast to the state proposal’s 22-storey maximum. Traffic and pipeline reports assess an earlier 721-home scheme—125 fewer apartments than the exhibited design—and refer to 5 per cent affordable housing for 15 years. Exhibited controls instead propose an affordable-housing contribution equal to 2 per cent of residential floor-space uplift, delivered in kind in perpetuity or through an equivalent monetary payment. The contribution would be phased under a timetable decided after exhibition, while the department examines how it could align with the council's proposed broader scheme. Potential contamination associated with a current dry cleaner, former petrol station, fill and pesticides would require further investigation and, if necessary, remediation before development.

Apartments
Vanessa Croll
Wed 05 Aug 26

Beverly Hills Rezoning Bid Swells to 846 Homes Amid Council Rift

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