Decision details

2022/075907

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Committee endorse the following in Chelsea Street, Redfern:

(A)        A single kerb extension on the northern side of Chelsea Street, west of Stanley Street within the existing No Stopping zone;

(B)        Four 1.65 metre wide landscape kerb side islands with tree planting on Chelsea Street, between Stanley Street and Vaughan Place;

Voting Members for this Item

Advice

The Committee unanimously supported the recommendation.

Background

Greening Sydney Strategy

The Greening Sydney Strategy was adopted in July 2021 and sets a vision for a greener Sydney that will help improve our health and wellbeing, reduce urban heat impacts, and bring nature into the city. The strategy is made up of six key directions and twenty key actions.

Streets account for 23 per cent of the total LGA. The planting of trees within the road pavement area is an opportunity to increase tree canopy within the street network above that provided by typical planting within the verge providing a range of benefits including; traffic calming by narrowing roadway down and reducing speed, opportunity to install trees clear of overhead services, opportunity for passive irrigation and integrated stormwater management and the maximised shading of large areas of hardstand by locating trees within the roadway.

In July 2020 a petition was received by the City requesting the review of the existing tree planting on Chelsea Street due to the poor performing footpath planting. The petition was signed by 36 residents on Chelsea Street.

This proposal is for 'tree planting within parking lanes'. The City has recognised that to meet the greening and canopy targets set out in the Greening Sydney Strategy some replacement of on-street parking will be required. This will be recommended where there are other infrastructure constraints such as narrow footpaths or overhead powerlines which impact on the ability for quality tree planting to be established through traditional footpath planting. The need to balance the provision of parking for the community and the provision of canopy for health and wellbeing and manage the impacts of climate change is recognised.

In-road planting was an appropriate design solution due to the constrained width of the existing footpath and the height restraints of the overhead powerlines. The installation of a single kerb extension, four landscaped blisters, and the replacement footpath planting will increase the canopy cover for the street by 50 per cent. The total projected canopy cover will be approximately 40 percent when the trees mature.