Maccabi rezoning takes centre court

Sports Properties Pty Ltd have submitted a rezoning application for Maccabi Tennis Club in Bondi, raising concerns the existing tennis courts will be turned into high-rise apartments.

Tennis courts at 105 Wellington St in Bondi will be rezoned into an R3 medium density residential site with 42 apartments and 49 parking spaces, should the application be approved.

A spokesperson for Waverley Council said an assessment of the rezoning proposal still needs to be made and it is anticipated the proposal will go before Council later this year.

“Council officers will report to Council on the merits of the proposal in the coming months,” said the spokesperson.

“If Council decides to proceed with the proposal, it would then be forwarded to the Department of Planning and Infrastructure for gateway determination.”

Councillor John Wakefield said the proposal will reduce open space for residents and further limit parking in Bondi.

“From Council’s point of view, the loss of a significant sport and recreation facility is a very important consideration given how few facilities we have like that in the Eastern Suburbs,” he said.

Councillor Dominic Wy Kanak said a previous rezoning application for the site was rejected by Council in November 2010 on the grounds it would affect the amenity of the local area and deny the community reasonable access to open space.

Classified as a private open space, the club currently provides six floodlit synthetic grass tennis courts and racquet hire services to local residents and visitors.

Bondi Precinct Committee Convenor, Gabrielle Tobias, said the proposal would remove a “valuable” and “irreplaceable” resource that the community can use. The tennis courts are over 70 years old.

“The developers have stated quite rightly that because it’s private, they can shut it down and … stop the community using that space,” said Ms Tobias.

“The community sees it as just greed … land is much more valuable as residential area than recreation space. Council has been through this before and now we have to go through it all again.”

Under the NSW State Government’s new planning laws, if Council rejects the proposal, the developer can appeal to the Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP) to consider the application. The JRPP could then liaise with the NSW Minister of Planning and Infrastructure, Brad Hazzard, to make a final decision on the proposal.

“This appeal mechanism has not been available in the past,” said Mr Wy Kanak.

“In this situation Barry O’Farrell’s new planning laws have effectively brought back the old ‘spot rezoning’ provisions which were previously revoked due to strong community campaigns of opposition and various links with questionable and corrupt conduct involving developers and councils.”

Ms Tobias said the developer wanted to have a significant return on their investment at the detriment of the Bondi community.

“That’s what it comes down to – profit versus community,” she said.

“No one is forcing them to buy the land, but they are proactively seeking to develop [it] knowing the inherent difficulties in rezoning it and knowing the existing community is resistant to it.”