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On Tue, Jan 19, 2021, 17:08 Geoff Olsen gol80579@...> wrote:
> Wasn’t that done to avoid an environmentally sensitive car park?
>
> *From:* TP historyworks@...>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 19, 2021 4:55 PM
> *To:* TramsDownUnder tramsdownunder@...>
> *Subject:* Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Rail tunnel keeps land in hand for
> billionaires
>
> If you're designing a city from scratch nowadays, you tend to put heavy
> rail lines underground because they do in fact interfere with how a city
> works. However, this outcome shouldn't be taken at extreme. In a city with
> varied topography like Sydney with its hills and dales, new lines tend to
> run in and out of tunnels. The outer west metro is no exception, having a
> mixture of tunnel and surface running several times along its length. The
> doozy of all time is surely the Bob Carr Memorial Tunnel under the Lane
> Cover River and its prodigious gradients and curves to get down there from
> high ground either side. All to please his mates in the nature conservation
> council, in an area that is entirely man-made, not natural.
> Tony P
>
> On Tuesday, 19 January 2021 at 14:00:22 UTC+11stuart....@... wrote:
>
>> Oh, they're not really barriers, are they? Rail corridors are like main
>> roads and freeways, can only be crossed at certain locations which means
>> your journey may not be as direct as it would otherwise be, but we accept
>> those inconveniences as part and parcel of urban living.
>>
>> Elevating the rail lines to replace level crossings in Melbourne seems to
>> be more popular than putting them in a trench. After the chaos of
>> construction, the locals get used to the viaduct, it blends into background
>> scenery and is no longer noticed, plus the former rail corridor is given
>> over to bike and walking paths and any other community use. For train
>> travellers the elevated line is infinitely more appealing with the views it
>> opens up.
>>
>> Underground by train just sucks.
>>
>> SK
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 11:35 AM TP histor...@...> wrote:
>>
>>> The key statement there is that the report was completed before the
>>> project was refined. Any quick perusal of the alignment design reveals
>>> that, after the line traverses the airport underground (out of necessity if
>>> you don't want runways with level crossings on them), it is then faced with
>>> rising terrain approaching Bringelly from the north, so to keep the
>>> gradient within reason, it traverses Bringelly underground. The other
>>> factor there is it's necessary to be underground in order to not create a
>>> barrier through the future city. As we all know, those suburban lines from
>>> a century ago have become dividing lines that must be crossed by bridges,
>>> underpasses, level crossings and costly long viaducts to replace level
>>> crossings. SMH exposes tend to be curate's eggs.
>>>
>>> Tony P
>>>
>>> On Tuesday, 19 January 2021 at 10:47:08 UTC+11gregsut...@...
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/billionaire-family-avoids-acquisition-after-u-turn-on-airport-rail-plans-20210112-p56tfq.htm
>>>> l
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Billionaire family avoids acquisition after U-turn on airport rail plans
>>>> [image: Matt O'Sullivan] By Matt O'Sullivan
>>>> https://www.smh.com.au/by/matt-o'sullivan-hvehy
>>>> January 19, 2021 — 5.00am
>>>>
>>>> View all comments
>>>> https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/billionaire-family-avoids-acquisition-after-u-turn-on-airport-rail-plans-20210112-p56tfq.html#comments
>>>>
>>>> The billionaire Perich family are among about a dozen landowners near
>>>> Sydney’s second airport to have avoided the state government acquiring
>>>> their land for an $11 billion metro rail line after a decision was made
>>>> last year to tunnel under farmland instead of crossing it.
>>>>
>>>> A "cabinet in confidence" report shows Sydney Metro, which is
>>>> delivering the rail project, was preparing to acquire about five hectares
>>>> from the Perichs at Bringelly in western Sydney.
>>>>
>>>> The report, which detailed a strategy for acquiring land, had
>>>> recommended that entering a "dialogue" with one of the Perichs' companies
>>>> "should be treated as a priority".
>>>> [image: Major earthworks are under way at the site of Western Sydney
>>>> Airport.]
>>>>
>>>> Major earthworks are under way at the site of Western Sydney Airport.
>>>> Credit:Brook Mitchell
>>>>
>>>> The five hectares initially eyed for acquisition is a fraction of a
>>>> large Perich property abutting the site of a train station planned at
>>>> Bringelly, around which a city centre will be developed over the coming
>>>> decades.
>>>> Advertisement
>>>>
>>>> Negotiations over acquiring the land never eventuated because the
>>>> government decided months after the strategy report was completed in
>>>> October 2019 to build the section of the line from the airport to Bringelly
>>>> underground in twin tunnels, instead of through farmland.
>>>>
>>>> Had the negotiations gone ahead, the government would have acquired the
>>>> five hectares from the Perichs based on the property's "existing rural use"
>>>> at the time.
>>>> [image: Tony Perich (right) and his son Mark Perich at their dairy farm
>>>> at Bringelly, which is next to the site of the new airport.]
>>>>
>>>> Tony Perich (right) and his son Mark Perich at their dairy farm at
>>>> Bringelly, which is next to the site of the new airport.Credit:James
>>>> Brickwood
>>>>
>>>> The other 12 landowners south of Western Sydney Airport to avoid
>>>> acquisitions have mostly smaller blocks.
>>>>
>>>> A corruption inquiry
>>>> https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/daryl-maguire-admits-to-icac-he-was-a-direct-line-to-government-for-developers-20201015-p565am.html
>>>> into disgraced former state Liberal MP Daryl Maguire and a scathing
>>>> Auditor-General report
>>>> https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/taxpayers-spent-30m-on-land-worth-only-3m-for-western-sydney-airport-s-second-runway-20200921-p55xqp.html
>>>> into the federal government's handling of the purchase of land from the
>>>> Perich family have put the spotlight on the oversight of developments
>>>> around the airport site.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The Perichs stand to make a significant gain on their large property
>>>> adjacent to the planned Aerotropolis train station at Bringelly. Much of
>>>> their land is in an area that was rezoned to mixed use from primarily rural
>>>> in October, clearing the way for houses, office buildings and shops to be
>>>> built.
>>>>
>>>> "It is one of the greatest windfall profits that can be made – the
>>>> conversion of rural to inner-city land in one fell swoop," said James
>>>> Weirick, emeritus professor and former director of urban development and
>>>> design at the University of NSW. "The value is created by public policy and
>>>> the unearned increment should be significantly taxed."
>>>>
>>>> Federal Liberal MP John Alexander said the value of a hectare close to
>>>> a new train station could rise from $5000 to more than $25 million the
>>>> moment its location was announced.
>>>>
>>>> "We should put something in place to capture a fair share of this
>>>> windfall," he said. "The moment you make an announcement the value has
>>>> changed and it is too late."
>>>>
>>>> Mr Alexander said governments had a duty to taxpayers to secure just,
>>>> equitable and fair portions of increases in property values when it was
>>>> clearly linked to government-funded infrastructure such as the airport and
>>>> the rail line.
>>>>
>>>> "It is manifestly the sins of the government on both sides to have
>>>> failed to see what was happening," he said. "The spending of taxpayer money
>>>> ... [on infrastructure] is making a handful of people multibillionaires."
>>>> [image: An artist's impression of the Aerotropolis Core station.]
>>>>
>>>> An artist's impression of the Aerotropolis Core station.Credit:NSW
>>>> government
>>>>
>>>> Under government plans for the development of land around the airport,
>>>> the Aerotropolis Core precinct will have up to 24,000 residents and 60,000
>>>> jobs by 2056.
>>>>
>>>> The Perichs own about a fifth of the land – some 311 hectares – in the
>>>> precinct, which covers 1382 hectares. The well-known Ingham family also own
>>>> a large property there.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Tony Perich, the joint managing director of the family business Perich
>>>> Group, said he was not aware that there were plans to acquire their land
>>>> for the rail line.
>>>>
>>>> He said he expected the development of the precinct to take decades,
>>>> and they had not confirmed "any plans at this stage" to develop their land.
>>>>
>>>> Asked what his business could earn from developing the rezoned land, Mr
>>>> Perich said it was too early to estimate, and the airport had been priced
>>>> into land in the area for some time.
>>>>
>>>> The confidential report is contained in bundles of sensitive documents
>>>> tabled to Parliament, in response to a call for papers by upper house Labor
>>>> MP Mark Buttigieg.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> While the Perichs and the others have avoided acquisitions, land
>>>> belonging to Sydney University and the well-known Medich family
>>>> https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/pushback-over-land-acquisitions-for-rail-line-to-new-sydney-airport-20210108-p56sqi.html
>>>> is among 61 properties that will be fully or partially acquired
>>>> https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/homes-make-way-for-8b-western-sydney-airport-metro-rail-line-20201021-p5674e.html
>>>> for the Sydney Metro Greater West rail line. Eleven will also be leased
>>>> temporarily along the 23-kilometre rail corridor between St Marys and
>>>> Bringelly.
>>>>
>>>> Labor's spokesman for western Sydney, Greg Warren, said the government
>>>> must be open and honest with all stakeholders impacted.
>>>>
>>>> "Whether it be the process of property acquisitions or the location of
>>>> roads and rail, the government has a duty to the people of NSW ... to
>>>> explain and justify its decisions and reasoning," he said.
>>>>
>>>> Sydney Metro said the report was completed before the rail project was
>>>> "refined as part of the planning process".
>>>>
>>>> "Underground metro rail between the Western Sydney International site
>>>> and Aerotropolis Station delivers better land use and place making outcomes
>>>> for the Aerotropolis," it said.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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