Clovelly Park: Haunting silence of a suburban ghost town

ON the corner of Chestnut Court, in Clovelly Park, a slippery dip and swings sit idle in a park. Now there’s silence instead of children’s laughter in this all-but-abandoned ghetto just 15 minutes from the city.

05/02/16 - Contaminated Clovelly Park streets Ash and Chesnut Ave. It's almost two years since the breakout was announced. Speaking to resident Justin Pearce who is the only person who actually owns a house - the rest are housing trust. Justin at the playground in Chestnut Avenue which no longer gets used. Picture Dean Martin

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ON the corner of Chestnut Court, in Clovelly Park, a slippery dip and swings sit idle in a park. Now there’s silence instead of children’s laughter.

This tiny pocket of Adelaide was once a picture of regular suburban life — a mix of families and couples, barking dogs, cars coming in and out of driveways.

Today, the street is largely quiet — an all-but-abandoned ghetto just 15 minutes from the city and just over five minutes from one of the state’s biggest shopping centres, Westfield Marion.

The street’s Housing SA residents have relocated after high levels of the potentially cancer-causing chemical trichloroethylene was discovered in the air and soil in July 2014 as a result of groundwater contamination.

They’ve left behind vacant homes that are now the target of vandals and vagrants.

On nearby Ash Ave, also tainted by the toxic groundwater, a handful of Trust tenants have decided to stay put after authorities determined that the chemical posed no danger. But residents from six homes chose to leave.

As the State Government prepares to bulldoze 25 properties, Ash Ave resident Justin Pearce, 42, took the Sunday Mail on a tour of his neighbourhood — which sits next to the TCE chemical source, believed to have entered the groundwater on a site now occupied by the nearby Monroe factory.

Mr Pearce, who bought his house from Housing SA years ago, is the only private owner on Ash Ave and is holding out for a better offer from the State Government.

He said he was “worried and nervous” about increasing crime, including the vandalism and late-night burnouts.

“Renewal SA says if there’s a problem, ring the police (but) by the time I ring the police they’ve gone so I just put up with it now,” he said. These days, Chestnut Court is dotted with damaged letterboxes, overgrown weeds in front yards, and broken windows of deserted homes.

An abandoned home on Chestnut Avenue. Picture: Dean Martin

The only sign of life is a stray kitten that hears movement and quickly scurries down a nearby drain.

Black graffiti marks the walls of a cream fence on the street corner.

Someone has broken into the backyard of a boarded-up red brick house, its walls the canvas for bright blue and white spray-paint. Tyre marks are on the bitumen from the late-night burnout crew. Mr Pearce said he was trying to reach a financial agreement with Renewal SA so he could sell his home and move.

“I don’t want to be the one house standing out in no- man’s land,” he said.

This week, his lawyers wrote to Renewal SA asking the government arm to “invite you to reconsider my client’s points of claim and to make an offer which reflects ... the upper end of the market valuation of my client's property”.

Mr Pearce wants to move as soon as possible. He said: “Especially if (Renewal SA is) going to bulldoze the houses next door and out the back and I’m going to be like a sitting duck,” he said.

A Housing SA tenant on Ash Ave, who did not want to be named, said she planned to stay put in her home even if Renewal SA bulldozes the houses around it.

“If it’s safe, then let people live there — if it’s not safe then say so,” she said.

She has lived in the house for eight years with her son, 11, and partner and does not want to move despite the health problems she’s developed since living there.

“When we first moved in my son had health problems — he had skin problems and breathing problems,” she said.

“It seems stable now ... my partner moved in and he’s had sinus problems as well.”

She said she’d believed the house was “safe” to live in, and that was backed up by the Government.

“If it’s safe then let people live there — if it’s not safe then say so,” she said. (But now) I don’t know what to believe.”

Chestnut Avenue, where all dwellings are now vacated and graffiti is scrawled on fences. Picture: Dean Martin

This week, calls to create a new suburb called Tonsley that would include the affected area of Clovelly Park has gained momentum. The idea, backed by real estate agents and Marion Council, is aimed at helping the area rid the stigma attached to the contamination scare and to recognise local history.

Mark Devine, Renewal SA’s general manager for project delivery, said the agency was “keen to reach a resolution” with Mr Pearce.

“Renewal SA made an offer last year for two properties in Clovelly Park based on the market value determined by an independent valuer and one property owner elected to sell immediately on this basis,” he said. Mr Devine said demolition of houses on both Chestnut Court and Ash Ave would begin “in the next few months”, adding: “(We) will notify nearby residents before this work commences. The contractor will be required to comply with strict health and safety requirements and to ensure remaining residents are not adversely affected by the works.” Mr Devine said residents in five SA Housing properties on Ash Ave had chosen to stay and “Renewal SA is working with the City of Marion to consult with the local community prior to developing options to manage the site in the medium term before longer term redevelopment plans are prepared.”

Steps had also been taken to ensure the safety of residents in the area.

He added: “We have been liaising with SA Police and would encourage any residents who see anti-social behaviour (on Chestnut Court) to report it to the police so that action can be taken.”