Melwood Ave, Forestville: One house set to be bulldozed to make way for seven seniors’ units

Authorities look set to give the tick to a proposed four-storey senior’s living apartment building on a northern beaches’ block that currently accommodates one family home. See the pictures.

An artist's impression of a proposed four-storey seniors living apartment block with seven units on Melwood Ave, Forestville. It will replace a single house now on the block. Picture: CD Architects

A single family home on the northern beaches is set to the bulldozed and replaced with a four-storey apartment block with seven seniors living units.

The building on Melwood Ave, Forestville, will have underground parking for 13 cars.

A development application to the council for the $3.9 million development, opposite busy Melwood Oval, has been passed on to the Northern Beaches Local Planning for consent due to a breach of the Floor Space Ratio — the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built — by more than 10 per cent.

An artist's impression the four-storey seniors living apartment block. Picture: CD Architects

But the Council has recommended to the panel, which meets on Wednesday to look at the DA, to approve the apartments for over 55s.

Documents lodged with the council shows that the developer wants to build four self-contained three-bedroom units and three, two-bedroom dwellings

A basement carpark will be provided.

An artist's impression of the proposed four-storey seniors living apartment block with seven units on Melwood Ave. Picture: CD Architects

The DA, when it went on public display earlier this year, only attracted only five objections from locals. They included concerns with the “bulk and scale” of the building; traffic, privacy of neighbours and excavation and construction impacts.

Andrew Berry submitted that the construction of “such a massive structure, the footprint of which will cover most of the area of the lot, is out of character and inappropriate for this part of Forestville”.

The house that could be demolished to make way for a proposed four-storey seniors living apartment block with seven units on Melwood Ave, Forestville. Picture: Supplied

“Massive ‘bunker-like’ developments, squeezed onto blocks, with lip-service to landscaping through ‘green’ concrete terraces are not in-keeping with the spirit of the neighbourhood.”

Zhipei Yang pointed out to the council that Melwood Ave already has to cope with a high volume of traffic due to sporting events at the oval.

A decision the DA will be released within days.