Prospect residents concerned streets becoming clogged, calling for stricter rules for apartment developments

RESIDENTS in a popular Adelaide suburb are calling for stricter rules on high-rise development applications to ease an increasing car parking squeeze.

PROSPECT residents are calling for stricter rules on high-rise development applications to ease an increasing car parking squeeze in the district.

Residents say car parking in the district is a problem and will get worse because of a spate of new multistorey apartment blocks set for the suburb.

They also said development assessors had incorrectly assumed most new residents would catch public transport when approving projects.

There have been 13 multistorey developments, worth a combined $30 million, approved in Prospect in the past three years, according to council figures.

There are dozens more residential projects in the pipeline.

Prospect Residents Association President Elizabeth Crisp said a lack of car parking was fast becoming one of the biggest gripes of ratepayers.

Ms Crisp said the suburb was not designed to cope with such an influx of vehicles to the area.

“Those little streets near these big developments, like the one (planned for) Nottage Tce, will be hell,” Ms Crisp said.

Ms Crisp said tightening carpark rules for new developments, which allow as little as 1.25 spaces per new dwelling, would go some way to addressing the problem.

She also suggested a permit system for residents in side streets near developments because it would stop their street verges being used as temporary car parks.

Prospect Rd resident Travis Algate said car parking congestion was an unfortunate side-effect of increased development in the area.

“The development at 227-229 (Prospect Rd) has 24 apartments and 29 car parks and the one next door at 225 has 32 apartments and 40 car parks,” he said.

“The number of parks is just not going to cut it.

Resident Gaynor Heylen lives on Richman Ave where a $1.8 million four-storey apartment complex was approved in June.

“It is a narrow street to start with and with 10 very small apartments, I think cars will be parked on the street a lot of the time,” Mrs Heylen said.

“The council’s comment was that not all people have a car and there’s a bus stop around the corner, but I don’t think you can predict whether people will have one or two cars.”

Under the council’s planning rules, if developers do not provide enough car parks they pay money into a public car parking fund.

The council charges developers up to $9000 for each space the developers fall short of the minimum car parks outlined for their projects.

A council spokesman said while councils set rules for new development car parks, they were approved by the State Government.

The spokesman said the council’s car park fund policy stipulated the money “must be spent on providing for additional car parking or on projects that reduce the demand for parking”.

However, he did not directly answer questions on how much money was in Prospect’s car park fund to February 3 or whether any such projects had been undertaken in the district.

A City North Messenger investigation in 2014 revealed the council’s car park fund had a balance of $225,526.

Planning Minister John Rau said he was open to discussions about car park rules for new developments.

Prospect road residents Terry Holmes, Laura Sawade and Travis Algate are against a five story apartment building being built next door. Pic Mark Brake

Word from the streets

A GROUP of Prospect Rd residents is trying to put a stop to a $6 million apartment complex being built next to their units, saying traffic will get worse and their privacy will be lost.

Strata group manager Travis Algate said residents at the unit block at 223 Prospect Rd strongly objected to the planned development of two four-storey apartment buildings next door that also included an undercroft car park for 40 vehicles.

Residents said they were so concerned about the “monstrous” development, that if it was approved they would consider moving.

“On the plans, it shows the affects from overshadowing and it will mean we will never see the sunlight,” Mr Algate said. “The balconies face directly over our backyards and people in the apartments will look straight into the window of the families next door.

“There is also a rubbish storage area 3m from one of our residents’ bedrooms.”

Mr Algate also raised concern about an increase in traffic congestion.

“The extra traffic will result in increased traffic flows down side streets and unsafe U-turns.”

The State Government’s Development Assessment Commission will assess the application.

The applicant for the apartments, Angelo Properties, did not respond before the City North Messenger’s deadline.