The Thirroul Plaza redevelopment was discussed at the first Thirroul Village Committee meeting for the year. Photo: TVC.
The developers of Thirroul Plaza have restated their commitment to “bring the community along the journey” after concerns were raised over their exploration of the State Government’s accelerated approval scheme.
At the Thirroul Village Committee (TVC) meeting on Sunday, 23 February, Louis Goulimis, founder of SolidVoid, the development manager engaged by Thirroul Plaza Developments Pty Ltd, confirmed the developers had lodged an expression of interest with the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA).
Established by the Minns Labor Government with a strong mandate to speed up assessment timeframes, the HDA is billed as “part of the Minns Labor Government’s plan to build a better NSW with more homes and services, so young people, families and key local workers have somewhere to live in the communities they choose”.
Through this process, State Significant Developments (SSDs) can bypass local council approvals.
The TVC, an open forum of Thirroul community members established in 1991, said the HDA route if taken for the redevelopment of Thirroul Plaza “would be a breach of the community’s trust in the project and a loss of goodwill”.
“We want to make it clear first that we are absolutely up for change,” TVC acting president Elliot Stein said. ”This is a community that supports good sustainable development and we have been really pleased over the last 12 months that the developers have been showing a willingness to work with the community on this project.”
“Something both will and needs to happen on that site … We would love to work with the developers in partnership on the future of Thirroul Plaza, but we want them to do it with us.”
The Thirroul Plaza is currently being considered for a major redevelopment after its previous plans were rejected by the NSW Land and Environment Court.
Throughout 2024, SolidVoid representatives have attended TVC meetings to provide updates on the proposal – a level of engagement that Mr Stein said was welcomed as a sign of rebuilding the community’s trust after previous attempts to redevelop the Plaza were met with strong community opposition.
“With all the goodwill that has been built up since the environmental land decision, we’d hate to see that thrown away for expediency, particularly when the community wants to do this with the developer,” he said.
“We were heartened on Sunday to hear the developer’s representative commit to community consultation including workshops … We hope that’s the path they continue and I think they’ll find widespread community support if they bring us with them.”
Mr Goulimis said there were no fresh plans for the development of the plaza, and that the expression of interest only represented an exploration for the new development.
The number of apartments is unconfirmed, but any development would contain zero social housing and some affordable housing.
Mr Goulimis confirmed SolidVoid’s intent to conduct formal workshops with both the TVC and Save Thirroul Village on any development of Thirroul Plaza to “inform the community”, and to use the results of the community survey already conducted to inform the design.
“We are certainly not cutting the community out. If anything, the community consultation process through the HDA is more onerous than a DA,” he said. “We intend to work not in partnership, but in collaboration with the community.”
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