Hillsong’s development application withdrawn, meeting cancelled

2 July 2008

A $78M development application by the Hillsong Church to build a seven-level office building and a 2,700 seat church with 679 car parking spaces in Rosebery, has been withdrawn.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said the Hillsong Church notified the City of Sydney today that they were withdrawing their development application.

The Central Sydney Planning Committee (CSPC) meeting on Thursday 3 July at the Wesley Conference Centre has been cancelled.

An independent assessment of the Hillsong application found the proposal exceeded height, parking and floor space limits and would exacerbate traffic problems in the surrounding residential streets.  The report to the CSPC recommended refusal of the application.

More than 1092 individual submissions were received including 276 objections and 816 letters and emails of support. Petitions for and against the proposal were also received.

The Lord Mayor said: "A large number of people were expected to attend the CSPC meeting and were registered to speak on this issue. Now it is not going ahead, Council staff are contacting people to minimise any inconvenience."