By VANESSA VALENZUELA
SYDENHAM residents are outraged they weren’t notified of plans to build a three-storey apartment block on the corner of Trickey Avenue and Overton Lea Boulevard.
Last week Brimbank City Council rejected a plan to build a larger $5.5 million four-storey development on the Sydenham site, but the construction of 100 apartments within five three storey buildings will go ahead despite strong opposition from residents.
Concerned residents attended council’s planning meeting last Monday to oppose the development of a four-storey application at the site only to discover a prior concept plan for the construction of a three-storey building had been already been approved by council two years ago.
The concept plan submitted by OMG Pty Ltd for the construction of five apartment buildings at 51 Trickey Avenue was approved by Brimbank Council in December 2010, but residents were not told about the application.
Resident Maria Provenzano told Star she was disappointed that the council did not have to alert residents that the concept plan for 100 dwellings at 51 Trickey Ave had been approved.
“We have got a big, big problem. The underlining deceitfulness is that the 143 apartments have been rejected, but 100 apartments have already been approved,” Ms Provenzano said.
Council’s Acting General Manager of City Development Stuart Menzies told Star the application was not advertised to the public because an “application within the Comprehensive Development Zone is exempt from notice requirements if it is generally consistent with council’s comprehensive development plan”.
“Given the proposal was for a higher density residential development, it was considered to be consistent with the Sydenham Regional Activity Centre Structure Plan which was developed for the area,” Mr Menzies said.
“This proposal did not go through a Council meeting because there were no objections received (given that it was exempt from advertising) and therefore officers had delegation to deal with the matter.”
Ms Provenzano said she felt deceived by the council and that 100 new apartments would still create the same problems for residents living in nearby streets.
“They’ve denied our way of living. We came into a residential area, not an urban high-density living area,” she said.
“It’s too close for comfort and high-density living should not be mixed in with the private residential people who have built and lived in the area.”
Resident Sandra Maccora said the development of the three-storey building would draw a considerable number of cars into the street and increase parking problems in the area.
“Our issue is that traffic is going to spill over into Milligan Parade because there is nowhere for them to park,” Ms Maccora said.
“When they are doing the construction there is no doubt in our minds that they are going to be using Milligan Parade as a divert for traffic.”
Mr Menzies said construction on the approved development could commence at any time, if the developer chose to go ahead with the proposal.
Star contacted OMG Pty Ltd but received no response before deadline.
