Local services under threat as inner city industrial land rezoned to meet housing demands

Dropping your car at your local mechanic may soon be a thing of the past as inner city industrial lands are swallowed up for housing.

The old Bill's Garage at Balmain.

Dropping your car at your local mechanic may soon be a thing of the past in Leichhardt after a planning recommendation to rezone one of the few industrial sites left in the area.

Leichhardt’s endangered industrial land will shrink further if the decision to rezone the Lords Rd site as residential goes ahead.

Leichhardt Council is investigating grounds for a legal challenge to the decision by the Joint Regional Planning Panel to rezone industrial land at 67- 73 Lords Rd to accommodate up to 300 units.

This is despite a council report which identified a severe shortage of industrial sites, now sitting at just 10 across the entire municipality, which is threatening the survival of local services such as mechanics.

Ian Jackson of Bill's Garage in Rozelle laments the loss of industrial land in the Leichhardt area.

Bill’s Garage on Darling St, Balmain was an institution on the peninsula for more than 40 years.

It was 26 years ago when Ian Jackson started working at the garage known for its famous wall painting.

After owner Bill Evans passed away, the site was sold and redeveloped as apartments.

Mr Jackson and his business partner John Pappas wanted to keep the mechanical repair business going but it took them two years to find a site zoned industrial and that would not draw the ire of residents.

Located on the corner of Brent and Crescent streets, Rozelle, the garage is well patronised by locals.

However, Mr Jackson fears businesses like his will die out if land continues to be zoned residential.

He said it would be a shame if people had to drive way out west to access services or they were forced to go to the big dealerships which were expensive and impersonal.

“People love us because we will help out with the flat battery or the flat tyre. If mum is stuck with the two kids in the car, I will go out and pick them up.”

Local services such as the former Bills Garage in Balmain are making way for more apartments.

The Lords Rd site housed 17 businesses employing 62 people.

A Leichhardt Industrial Land Study found the LGA would not have sufficient land within existing precincts to accommodate for future demand.

The study forecast Leichhardt would have a shortfall of up to 55,000 sqm by 2036

Leichhardt Council refused the Lord’s Rd proposal but the decision was recently overturned by the JRPP.

The panel considered the proximity of the site to various transport options, including the adjoining light rail, as well as the opportunity that mixed used development of the site would create new employment in the area.

A spokesman said the Planning Department was considering the recommendations of the JRPP about the proposal and would make a determination on whether the proposal should proceed.

Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne said the State Government had jumped the gun by approving plans for high rise development along the Parramatta Road corridor before submissions on their redevelopment strategy had even closed.

Cr Byrne said members of the panel sited the Government’s Draft Parramatta Road Urban Transformation Strategy as a justification for overturning council’s refusal of the rezoning – despite the document having no legal status at all.

“It is becoming clearer by the day that the Government is not interested in making suburbs along Parramatta Road more liveable, they just want to turn them into a developer’s playground.”