This development is Just Plain Bad.
An Over-development
This development will comprise small apartments on a site that simply cannot support such a high number. These apartments will overwhelmingly be small, cramped 1 bedroom and studio apartments.
By stuffing so many apartments into such a small site the developers hope to gain a higher return, but this is clearly at the cost of the amenity of both the neighbours and the people in the apartments. Yarra Council unanimously rejected the development on several grounds, including lack of internal amenity in the building.
In other words, these small, ultra-high density apartments will have insufficient access to natural light and the building is not designed with sufficient space in the common hallways and spaces outside the apartments.
It’s Ugly!
York Street is a traditional inner-city street. Almost all of the houses are small, single-fronted terraces.
This development will be totally out of place amongst these small terraces – it will be an imposing 4-storey edifice that will dwarf the surrounding dwellings. Its design is a big, ugly concrete façade with a small modicum of cladding tiles that is totally at odds with the heritage designs of most of the houses in the rest of the street. But even if it wasn’t so ugly, it is just too big for the street – it will be a four-storey building in a street in which the tallest building currently facing the street is only two storeys.
Neighbouring houses in York Street
Houses opposite the proposed development
Too many cars – too few car parks
The development is proposed to contain 72 apartments, but its underground car park will contain only 53 car parks! This means that 19 apartments will have no car parks and any residents of these apartments will have to park on the street.
This might be possible in a wide street with lots of surplus parking spaces, but York Street is neither. It is not only already full – it is overflowing!
On every weeknight, every single car parking space in the street is taken:
Too many cars – too few car parks
The development is proposed to contain 72 apartments, but its underground car park will contain only 53 car parks! This means that 19 apartments will have no car parks and any residents of these apartments will have to park on the street.
This might be possible in a wide street with lots of surplus parking spaces, but York Street is neither. It is not only already full – it is overflowing!
On every weeknight, every single car parking space in the street is taken:
There is simply no extra space for all the extra cars. And there is certainly no extra space for all the extra visitors that 72 extra dwellings will attract.
So how do the developers propose to address this issue?
Answer: they don’t.
Instead of putting together a responsible proposal that includes adequate parking spaces, the developers, in their desire to squeeze as many apartments as possible onto the site, have put together a proposal which has a car space for only 60% of the dwellings. They knew this was contrary to the requirements of the Yarra Planning Scheme. But instead of designing a building which complies with the Planning Scheme, they instead applied to be exempted from it! Even when local residents pointed out the inevitable consequences of such over-crowding, they refused to amend their plans.
As for the effect on existing residents, the developers have been even more dismissive. The developers’ representatives, SJB Planning, made the farcical suggestion that local residents could park around the corner in Regent Street – up to 200 metres away!
This development will choke York Street with extra cars. It will be a nightmare for local residents. But when you live on the Gold Coast and will never visit the place, it’s easy to think that it’s not your problem.
Too much traffic in an overcrowded street
York Street is an old 19th century inner city street. It was not designed for 21st century levels of motor vehicle traffic. When cars are parked on either side it is impossible for two cars to travel in opposite directions. Instead, one car must wait at the end of the street (up to 100 metres away) for the other car to pass.
The evidence speaks for itself – the street simply cannot afford an influx of any more cars.
Overshadowing – and lots of it
The development will cause major overshadowing of neighbouring properties. On the north-west corner of the site the four-storey building will be built right to the title boundary. There will be no set backs and no space between it and neighbouring backyards. It will look straight into the backyard and windows (less than 3 metres away) of 5 neighbouring properties. These properties will also be seriously overshadowed every single day and their windows facing the development will no longer receive any direct sunlight.
Yet the developers’ representatives have claimed that ‘there will be no loss of amenity’ to these properties. Is there no limit to the developers’ insensitivity and arrogance?
Noise – and lots of it
The development will be noisy, very noisy. It will include plant for 72 units, mounted onto a fifth-storey plant room on its roof. This will cause major noise pollution to neighbours. So far, the attitude of the developers has been dismissive. Their representatives, SJB Planning, have encouraged neighbours to take up any problems of noise to the EPA. A less-than-constructive response.
Properties bordering the northwest side will not only be overshadowed, they will have balconies on the third and fourth floor directly overlooking them and looking directly into their backyard and windows (less than 3 metres away). It is inevitable that noise will flow from these balconies at point-blank range into neighbouring properties.
Garbage removal, furniture removalists, drainage, air conditioning – so many questions, still no answers
The development proposal still does not address some simple but fundamental issues.
Garbage removal
The development must include rubbish bins for 72 different apartments. What happens when the rubbish needs to be collected? The entrance to the car park is too small for a garbage truck. There is no space at the front of the building to line up the rubbish bins for collection. So does this mean that 72 rubbish bins will need to be lined up on the footpath every week?
Residents moving in and out
The apartments are not designed for owner-occupiers. After all, what property owner would want to live themselves in such small, cramped accommodation? They are designed to be bought as investment properties and rented out, generally to younger, mobile people who will not be living there for long-term periods of time. The high turnover of tenants will mean people will be moving in an out on a regular basis. So where do the removal vans park to load and unload? The development does not have a driveway, nor does it include anywhere for an average size removal van to park. Given that York Street is so narrow, with cars constantly parked on each side, it is impossible to park a van on the street. If the average tenancy lasts for 3 years (an optimistic figure) then one-third (i.e. 24 of the apartments) will have people coming and going every year – that’s 48 removal van movements, or almost one per week, but with nowhere for them to go.
Air conditioning and plant
The development is so big it will need its own electrical substation. These things are noisy. Very noisy. The substation will not be located in the building but outside the building directly adjacent to a neighbouring property. And what of the air-conditioning units for 72 apartments? According to the plans, they will not be located within the plant room (which might reduce some of their noise) but mounted onto the roof, for all the neighbours to hear.
Drainage
The western end of York Street was recently dug up to replace the existing water drainage pipes, which were too old and which struggled to handle to flow from the existing dwellings. However, the drains were only replaced halfway up to the proposed development. If the existing infrastructure was not enough to handle what is already there, how can it possibly handle another 72 dwellings.
So how do the developers propose to address this issue?
Answer: they don’t.
Instead of putting together a responsible proposal that includes adequate parking spaces, the developers, in their desire to squeeze as many apartments as possible onto the site, have put together a proposal which has a car space for only 60% of the dwellings. They knew this was contrary to the requirements of the Yarra Planning Scheme. But instead of designing a building which complies with the Planning Scheme, they instead applied to be exempted from it! Even when local residents pointed out the inevitable consequences of such over-crowding, they refused to amend their plans.
As for the effect on existing residents, the developers have been even more dismissive. The developers’ representatives, SJB Planning, made the farcical suggestion that local residents could park around the corner in Regent Street – up to 200 metres away!
This development will choke York Street with extra cars. It will be a nightmare for local residents. But when you live on the Gold Coast and will never visit the place, it’s easy to think that it’s not your problem.
Too much traffic in an overcrowded street
York Street is an old 19th century inner city street. It was not designed for 21st century levels of motor vehicle traffic. When cars are parked on either side it is impossible for two cars to travel in opposite directions. Instead, one car must wait at the end of the street (up to 100 metres away) for the other car to pass.
The evidence speaks for itself – the street simply cannot afford an influx of any more cars.
Overshadowing – and lots of it
The development will cause major overshadowing of neighbouring properties. On the north-west corner of the site the four-storey building will be built right to the title boundary. There will be no set backs and no space between it and neighbouring backyards. It will look straight into the backyard and windows (less than 3 metres away) of 5 neighbouring properties. These properties will also be seriously overshadowed every single day and their windows facing the development will no longer receive any direct sunlight.
Yet the developers’ representatives have claimed that ‘there will be no loss of amenity’ to these properties. Is there no limit to the developers’ insensitivity and arrogance?
Noise – and lots of it
The development will be noisy, very noisy. It will include plant for 72 units, mounted onto a fifth-storey plant room on its roof. This will cause major noise pollution to neighbours. So far, the attitude of the developers has been dismissive. Their representatives, SJB Planning, have encouraged neighbours to take up any problems of noise to the EPA. A less-than-constructive response.
Properties bordering the northwest side will not only be overshadowed, they will have balconies on the third and fourth floor directly overlooking them and looking directly into their backyard and windows (less than 3 metres away). It is inevitable that noise will flow from these balconies at point-blank range into neighbouring properties.
Garbage removal, furniture removalists, drainage, air conditioning – so many questions, still no answers
The development proposal still does not address some simple but fundamental issues.
Garbage removal
The development must include rubbish bins for 72 different apartments. What happens when the rubbish needs to be collected? The entrance to the car park is too small for a garbage truck. There is no space at the front of the building to line up the rubbish bins for collection. So does this mean that 72 rubbish bins will need to be lined up on the footpath every week?
Residents moving in and out
The apartments are not designed for owner-occupiers. After all, what property owner would want to live themselves in such small, cramped accommodation? They are designed to be bought as investment properties and rented out, generally to younger, mobile people who will not be living there for long-term periods of time. The high turnover of tenants will mean people will be moving in an out on a regular basis. So where do the removal vans park to load and unload? The development does not have a driveway, nor does it include anywhere for an average size removal van to park. Given that York Street is so narrow, with cars constantly parked on each side, it is impossible to park a van on the street. If the average tenancy lasts for 3 years (an optimistic figure) then one-third (i.e. 24 of the apartments) will have people coming and going every year – that’s 48 removal van movements, or almost one per week, but with nowhere for them to go.
Air conditioning and plant
The development is so big it will need its own electrical substation. These things are noisy. Very noisy. The substation will not be located in the building but outside the building directly adjacent to a neighbouring property. And what of the air-conditioning units for 72 apartments? According to the plans, they will not be located within the plant room (which might reduce some of their noise) but mounted onto the roof, for all the neighbours to hear.
Drainage
The western end of York Street was recently dug up to replace the existing water drainage pipes, which were too old and which struggled to handle to flow from the existing dwellings. However, the drains were only replaced halfway up to the proposed development. If the existing infrastructure was not enough to handle what is already there, how can it possibly handle another 72 dwellings.
No comments:
Post a Comment