Eight areas in Sydney have been earmarked for high-rise apartment blocks of up to 30 storeys and increased commercial development as part of a state government plan to boost high-density housing and employment.
The initial round of ''urban activation precincts'' - where development is to be intensified near transport hubs - is expected to lead to as many as 30,000 additional homes.
Parts of North Ryde, Macquarie Park, Epping, Wentworth Point, Homebush, Mascot, Randwick and the area around Anzac Parade from Maroubra to Phillip Bay are facing zoning and development control changes encompassing hundreds of homes and businesses, as well as government-owned or council land.
The effects of the changes are already being felt. Chris Dunkerley, from the Epping Civic Trust, said developers and real estate agents were doorknocking his neighbourhood, where single-storey dwellings are facing a likely rezoning for five storeys.
While some houses will be protected by a heritage conservation zone, Mr Dunkerley said new controls were expected to increase maximum building heights, ranging from three to 22 storeys.
In North Ryde, 30-storey buildings have been mooted. In the Randwick and Ryde local government areas - which will host education precincts around the University of NSW and Macquarie University respectively - public housing estates have also been earmarked for possible redevelopment.
Bill Randolph, from the University of NSW's city futures research centre, said the precincts were located in the right areas. ''If this doesn't work then we're really stuck as a city,'' he said. ''We have to activate urban renewal across the city and we've got to do it appropriately.''
But Professor Randolph said the authorities needed to take heed of the ''real traps'' that had befallen previous plans, such as overdevelopment in Strathfield and a community backlash in Ku-ring-gai.
''It's not just rezone and walk away,'' he said. ''It's work with the local community, master-plan the areas, get agreement and then work with the development sector to develop that agreed plan.''
Councils will receive money from a $50 million fund to help them meet the additional infrastructure demands that come from the increased population.
But some councils, brought into Department of Planning working groups to develop the detail, have criticised the way precincts were determined. Randwick's Labor mayor, Tony Bowen, has said its council had ''no input whatsoever'' in nominating its two precincts. Nor did Auburn, which likened the process to the ''removal of local planning powers and decision-making from council by the state government''.
Ryde City Council also expressed concern that heights discussed for development on government-owed land in North Ryde ''are substantially higher than the planning controls applying to the adjoining properties in the corridor''.
Planning Minister Brad Hazzard said no final decisions would be made about the precincts until the consultation process was complete, ''but we do think they have the potential to become modern urban places''.
"They are areas that can be renewed to provide additional housing and employment alongside new shops, cafes and parks,'' he said.
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