Seven Hills Tafe developer Heran Group defends gag clause
Furious residents have been gagged from objecting to a major development on Brisbane’s eastside that will feature apartment blocks, cafes and a supermarket, despite the developer changing its mind to almost double the height of a proposed stage.
QLD News
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Estate covenants are being used to gag residents of a prominent Brisbane development from objecting to a controversial neighbouring tower.
Heran Building Group are developing a multistage redevelopment of the Seven Hills Tafe site, which will include apartment blocks, cafes and a proposed supermarket.
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But residents of an already built stage of the Clearview Urban Village, who bought homes for roughly $1 million, are now furious after Heran changed its mind about a neighbouring proposed stage.
Stage H was originally envisioned as being a maximum of four storeys, however plans submitted late last year saw that height skyrocket to seven, before being reduced to five after community outcry.
The new plans also added a 2500 sqm supermarket.
Existing residents are worried about increased traffic and loud noise from the supermarket and have revealed their house contracts gag them from submitting objections against other stages of the Clearview Urban Village.
“The buyer must not make or maintain any Objection either alone or jointly against others of (sic) do anything which adversely affect any of the Applications,” one clause of the contract stated.
Another clause stopped residents from complaining about noise and dust impacts from construction work.
It’s left one resident, who wished to remain anonymous, saying he felt “deceived.”
“Yes I was aware of the gag clause, but I didn’t perceive it as being an issue at the time,” he said.
“The development proposal included low to medium density residential, and within precinct G, up to 250 sqm of shop.”
“Three years later, they have re-evaluated … and decided they want to put in something 10 times the size of what we anticipated.”
Heran has defended the clause as “industry standard.”
“Residents were not forced to sign the contract when purchasing and did so at their own free will with their own nominated legal advice,” spokesman Peter Honeyman said.
“Over 4000 nearby residents were notified and invited to attend the (Clearview Urban Village) open day to view the project and offer their concerns, views and recommendations,” Mr Honeyman said.
He also added that road upgrades were proposed with the development, and argued that the development wasn’t “vastly different” to the existing plan approved by Brisbane City Council.
Morningside Labor councillor Kara Cook, who is running a petition against the development, said the reported gagging of residents was “deeply concerning.”
“All residents have a right to have their say on development applications, particularly when a development will have a significant impact on them personally,” Cr Cook said.