Development consultants Future Urban, on behalf of Pierson Pty Ltd, have initiated a second planning code amendment on the plot of land at 25 Pierson Street in Lockleys.

The 4.87-hectare site, located within 10km of the CBD and adjacent to the River Torrens Linear Park, holds a Westpac mortgage centre and car park.

The Maras Group owns the land. It is currently zoned for employment rather than residential use.

Concept plans lodged as part of the code amendment propose maximum two storey housing on the eastern, western and southern parts of the site, matching the surrounding low-rise housing in Lockleys.

Concept plans for the proposed code amendment, with the blue representing two-storey housing and the orange four storey. Image: PlanSA/Future Urban

Housing with a maximum of four-storeys is proposed in the centre and facing the River Torrens Linear Park on the site’s northern boundary.

Future Urban managing director Chris Vounasis told InDaily the rezoning would facilitate both medium and low-density housing.

“It’s an infill site that is effectively a commercial island in amongst residential,” he said.

“The rezoning replaces a commercial use with a residential use that’s very sensitive to its immediate neighbours.”

The site at Lockleys currently features a car park and a Westpac branch. Photo: InDaily

A requirement for 15 per cent of new dwellings on the site to be affordable housing is also proposed in the code amendment.

The latest rezoning bid comes after Planning Minister Nick Champion in December 2022 rejected an earlier bid from the same developer to rezone the site for housing up to six-storeys.

Champion at the time cited community concerns about height as one of the reasons for his decision.

“Whilst I acknowledge the value of the land as a strategic infill site, I note the significant concerns of the community regarding the proposal and the amenity impacts such higher density development would have in a low-rise, mid-block location such as this,” Champion wrote on December 15, 2022.

The northern end of the Westpac building at Lockleys. Photo: InDaily

Champion suggested at the time he would be open to a revised rezoning proposal if it was “more in keeping with the established character” of the area.

Vounasis said the new four-storey proposal was a “genuine attempt” to respond to the concerns of the Planning Minister and residents.

“The original code amendment was put forward on the basis that the site could accommodate that height (six storeys) appropriately along the Torrens and centrally located,” he said.

“The intent here is still the same – it’s just four storeys.”

Vounasis said the rezoning and subsequent development would generate less traffic than the land’s current use, and also provide “green linkages” to the adjacent River Torrens park.

“We believe overall it’s being very sensitive to its immediate surrounds,” he said.

But nearby residents say they are still concerned about allowing four storeys in their locality.

Lynton Pearce – who lives adjacent to the site and is a member of the “Say No – Pierson Street Lockleys Development” Facebook group, which has 324 members – said he did not support the revised four-storey proposal.

Pearce said there were “more appropriate places for this high-density living to be put in place”.

An aerial view of the 4.87 parcel of land. Image: Future Urban

“This suburb is low density right the way through – do we start getting rid of all of our low-density areas?” he said.

Pearce said residents were concerned about having two-storey housing adjoining their properties and four-storey buildings near the nature trail.

“If I had the money, would I not want to live with a north-facing aspect into the nature strip – yeah, why not,” he said.

“But the point is other people also want to enjoy that aspect. They want to go and return to nature, walking their dog, riding their bike and so forth.

“They don’t want to be walking along and happen to have these massive buildings – metropolis – shoved right in their face as they walk along it.”

Public consultation on the code amendment ends on December 17.