PlanningAlerts

3 Comments

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1. The Building is too BIG,

   Last year ‘The Leader’ published that height restrictions in South Hurstville had been raised from 9 meters to 12 meters. With an effective height of 21 meters, this building will tower above similar buildings that already exist in Kairawa and Short Streets and Grosvenor Road. Also the plans state that the building will be 8 stories, however if the top floor common area is added it means it will effectively be 9 stories high which is significantly more that existing buildings.

   Our area has had earth tremors in the past (I’ve lived through 2 of them), will the building be strong enough to withstand these types of natural events.

   My Amenity will be compromised

   I have found that people who live in unit blocks tend to use up their allocated storage and then also use their car spaces for general storage. Others simply decide not put their cars in their spaces and park on the street. Therefore, most residents will park their cars on the street. If you need to see a live example of this phenomenon then have a look at what is happening around the corner in Kairawa Street, it’s a mess. Your Town Planners should already be well aware that this is what actually happens.

   I note page 7 of the Environmental Effects document allows for 98 residents, 13 visitors, 10 Commercial and 10 council parking spaces. This is a total of 131, but by-laws prevent residents from using the visitor and commercial spaces so we really have 108 (98 + 10 council) usable resident parking spaces. They estimate 1 space per one bedroom unit (6 x 1 spaces = 6), 1.5 for each two bedroom unit (54 x 1.5 = 89 spaces) = 54 and 2 for each 3 bedroom unit (4 x 2 = 8). Therefore, it appears that they have allowed for 5 extra spaces (i.e. 108 - 103 = 5) for residents.

   Realistically, these days everyone has a car and we can be sure that there will be several more people living in the building than 1 person per bedroom. There are 126 bedrooms in the plan. If we conservatively vary the estimates to one space (or car) per bedroom we therefore need 126 spaces. So this is already 18 (i.e. 126 – 108) spaces short of the 108 allowed. If we add the storage problem I have explained above we will experience a serious parking shortage in the building and the overflow residents will have no alternative but to try and park on the street.

   Parking in Grosvenor Road, Kairawa, Short and Allen streets is already at a premium. For example during the day many people who work in the shopping center, park their cars around my property. Also they often park across my driveway. My guests often complain to me how hard it is to park when they visit me. The extra pressure this development will put on our streets will make this problem escalate.

   Allen Street is a very narrow one-way street. I note that the rear parking entrance is on Allen Street. Motorists routinely go against the traffic flow to access the existing council car park in Allen Street. Residents to the proposed building will no doubt be similarly tempted to take this short cut into the proposed buildings driveway. This will create a very dangerous reverse traffic flow into this narrow (i.e. single lane) one-way Street.

   Also, there are a lot of people who push baby prams and walk dogs around here as well as school children. They already have to risk their lives each time they cross our roads. I fear traffic flows will increase dramatically and that our streets may become a ‘rabbit’ run that will compromise my and their future safety as pedestrians.

   The ‘Traffic Report’ attempts to measure the current traffic in our area. However, I note they have not advised when these figures were compiled. For example if they were taken during school holidays they will reflect a reduced rather than a true average flow.

   Dumped and abandoned cars as well the general dumping of rubbish are already problems around here. The abandoned cars also compete with existing space. More people will increase these occurrences.

   I anticipate that noise during construction will not be easy for me and my neighbours to endure. Also although it does not directly affect me, neighbours on upper side of King Georges Road have expressed to me that the shade diagrams may be misleading. For example shade samples taken at the time of the equinox are different to when the sun is lower in our sky.

   The building will compromise existing Infrastructure

   The proposed building is very large, as such it will put enormous extra pressure our existing amenities. I am particularly concerned about the effect it will have on our storm water drainage system.

   This system was upgraded as recently as 2012 to alleviate flooding problems we were experiencing in Grosvenor Road. This problem has not gone away because when we have a large storm, we still get flooding events. Developments that are already underway upstream will soon be contributing to this. I fear that these developments plus the newly proposed building will put undue extra pressure on our storm water drains which will ultimately and continually increase the flooding risk to our streets.
   The existing shared sewerage line may also be similarly compromised. Backlogs and blockages could create serious health issues. Also, our streets are 3 ton limited. Heavy construction trucks and caterpillars could collapse or destroy the existing old and delicate terracotta system completely.

   I note that the ‘Environment Report’ takes no account of these issues.
   In the time I have lived here I have never experienced the concern that this and other nearby projects have generated amongst my neighbours.

   A more suitable building would be one similar to the block next door at 34-40 Connell’s Point Road. The building is a good design, it looks nice and it fits in well with our area.

   If this application is to be decided by councilors then I would like to attend the meeting. Please let me know the time that this will be held.

2. Our state and local governments are absolutely destroying South Hurstville with the most revolting and unnecessarily huge units that don’t fit into the area. The council sold the council car park to the developers thereby reducing available parking for visitors and shoppers.

   There is almost nowhere to park these days and people visiting the shops have taken to blocking private driveways.

   On top of overpopulating South Hurstville with hideous unit blocks for some greedy developers, the council and building regulators are allowing shoddy building practices slip through.

   The block that went up in Derwent St less than 12 months ago already has owners complaining about water leaks and aircon units breaking down. The developer also failed to complete the cladding on one wall so there is building foam and steel rods sticking out onto private property. The council has done nothing about it.

   This ugly monstrosity will be another shoddy block of units and the George’s River Council and State Govt should be held financially responsible if they create another Mascot or Opal Towers in South Hurstville due to lack of oversight and greed

3. Georges River Council, in particular the General Manager and Executive Team are totally on-side with developers as revenue is their Ione and only focus. Hideous overdevelopment is being approved contrary to the mass objections from residents, ward councillors, councillors on mass, and state and federal MP's. South Hurstville has been destroyed by greed. The greed of developers is only surpassed by the greed of GRC who ignore and treat the residents, ratepayer and our elected representatives with utter contempt.

   The NSW Joint Regional Planning Panel/s need to be very aware that GRC is undemocratic and unrepresentative of not only residents and ratepayers, but also of our elected councillors and local MP's who the GRC Executive treats with contempt.

   South Hurstville and our neighbouring communities are being destroyed so the unelected bureaucrats can make their Resumes look good at the great expense of our suburb and community.

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