A waterfront mini city in Liverpool, a campaigning council and a Sydney developer with a colourful past
Minutes after the Rosehill Gardens Racecourse mini city plan was scuttled, one council spruiked a solution.
Half an hour south-west of the racecourse lies a large swathe of industrial land, ripe for rezoning, Liverpool City Council declared.
A planning proposal for a $9 billion waterfront mini city was well advanced. It could be signed off 'with the stroke of the Premier's pen', the council's timely press release suggested.
Mayor Ned Mannoun called for an urgent meeting with the NSW premier and followed up with a direct text to Chris Minns. He hasn't heard back.
If the 31.4-hectare site is rezoned from light industrial to mixed use, major landholders Coronation Property and Leamac Property Group stand to make a windfall.
The developers have been advocating for rezoning for a decade and are currently locked in final negotiations with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI).
If you have any information about a story, contact Amy Greenbank.
They are proposing to build 11,000 apartments over 30 to 40 years, a large retail hub, a primary school, pedestrian bridges, and an 8-kilometre foreshore walk
"Moore Point", as it will be known, is a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver Australia's next Great Riverfront City", according to exhibited planning documents.
But the proposed high-rises will be built on a floodplain, as the site sits on a peninsula between the Georges River and Lake Moore.
A 2022 flood study found that if the development went ahead it would likely generate 25,000 vehicles, but the roads only had capacity for 5,500 evacuating cars in a "probable maximum flood".
"Noah's flood is not a planning benchmark," Mr Mannoun said, arguing the flood level criteria was unnecessarily restrictive and holding back housing.
The DPHI has asked the developers to conduct further flood modelling.
It's not the first time Mr Mannoun has publicly advocated for a Coronation project.
While in office in 2016, he featured in two promotional videos for the developer, supporting an earlier Liverpool project called the 'Paper Mill'.
"It's wonderful and it's so exciting, and it's great to be part of the project… Let's embrace it," he told viewers.
The high-rise was later hit with a building work rectification order, including for "uncontrolled cracking" in four basements.
Owners sued Coronation's building arm, MN Builders, and a subsidiary in the Supreme Court over alleged defects on common property.
In 2021, the council took legal action against Coronation over unpaid rates at the Shepherd Street site. The matter was resolved out of court.
Coronation also failed to deliver a promised boardwalk allowing direct access to the Georges River, which was a requirement under its 2017 voluntary planning agreement (VPA) with the council.
"We don't have an issue with them [Coronation]," Mr Mannoun said, adding he was unaware of the alleged defects in the Paper Mill.
A spokesperson for Coronation said it had largely fulfilled its VPA, and the "final portion" of the riverwalk works would be completed within three months, adding the rectification works on the Paper Mill site had been finished.
Liverpool City Council said the boardwalk would be delivered in six months and Coronation "had not failed to meet its obligations", as it was a complex project.
The VPA required the riverwalk to be completed before the Occupation Certificate was signed off, which was several years ago.
Mr Mannoun said he "pitches and promotes" a range of developers who had "good quality" projects in his council area.
He is not overly concerned about the optics of maintaining close proximity to developers, even with a looming inquiry into his council, which begins public hearings on July 14.
"Define too close. What's too close? If people want to meet with the mayor, they meet the mayor," he said.
In 2024 an interim investigation into Liverpool City Council by the Office of Local Government NSW alleged elected officials, "in particular the mayor", were intervening in the development assessment process.
"Every mayor and councillor makes representations … no-one can produce where I've done something inappropriate," Mr Mannoun told the ABC.
A spokesperson for Coronation said it maintained a "good working relationship" with local councillors and state and federal MPs.
Australian-owned and operated Coronation Property has been plagued by controversy in recent years.
The company currently has nine high-rise projects in the pipeline, which it estimates to be worth $5.7 billion.
However, in 2022 its building arm, MN Builders, narrowly avoided being stripped of its building registration.
After a brief Supreme Court battle, the company struck an enforceable undertaking with the Department of Customer Service and agreed to conduct an independent audit of its practices.
The company was also named in the former NSW building commissioner's resignation letter in 2022.
David Chandler briefly quit shortly after issuing MN Builders a stop work order over Coronation's Merrylands project 'Mason and Main'.
In his resignation letter, which was sent to the anti-corruption watchdog, Mr Chandler raised concerns about an alleged relationship between then-minister Eleni Petinos' office and Coronation.
He also stated he received a message from the former deputy premier John Barilaro, who had joined the Coronation board, shortly after issuing the order.
A spokesperson for Coronation said its Moore Point project would be the "jewel in the crown" for south-western Sydney, where there is a dire shortage of housing.
Coronation is represented by Premier Communications Group, where former NSW premier Morris Iemma is senior counsel.
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