Crows Nest residents ‘stunned’ by aged care plans
Plans for a $33 million aged care centre in Crows Nest have stunned neighbours who believe it is a “huge overdevelopment”.
Mosman
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Plans for a $33 million aged care centre at Crows Nest have infuriated neighbours.
A developer wants to build a 102-bed facility on Rodborough Ave with a rooftop garden, shop and carparking.
“It’s a very big overreach,” nearby resident Philip Ingevics said.
“So far I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t think it’s a huge overdevelopment.
“It does not conform to a whole series of development control standards and it also creates very significant pedestrian safety issues for the children at Cammeraygal High School.”
The project expands across seven existing lots from numbers 1 to 9, which would all be demolished. It would be four storeys tall.
Community group Registry Precinct discussed the matter at its meeting on Wednesday night.
Mr Ingevics has studied the development application in depth and has created a petition for locals to sign. He said residents are “stunned” by the proposal.
“Development needs to add to a community and not take away from a community. On balance it is very hard to see how this would add to the community,” he said.
“It’s simply completely out of scale with every structure that adjoins it to the east.”
Pathways Residences, which runs aged care facilities across Sydney, is behind the project. A company called Skermanic Pty Ltd is named as the applicant.
The DA was lodged on August 13 and residents have until September 6 to lodge their objections or support.
A document submitted to North Sydney Council with the DA states that compliance with the development standard would be unreasonable and unnecessary in the circumstances of this development.
“There are sufficient environmental planning grounds to justify the contravention,” the document by City Plan on behalf of Pathways stated.
“The proposed development, notwithstanding the variation, is in the public interest and there is no public benefit in maintaining the standard.”
A spokeswoman for Pathways said the proposed facility had been carefully designed to provide high quality care for the elderly and frail in the local community.
She said the basement parking allowed Pathways to create a landscaped garden and that their traffic consultant had not identified any concerns regarding safety of schoolchildren.
The centre will provide essential housing for people who wish to remain in their local community.
“The proposed building has been designed to respond to the specific features of the site and the surrounding area,” the spokeswoman said.
“It complies with most of the planning controls, however there is a minor variation in relation to height.
“The justification for this variation has been clearly provided in the DA documents.”
The application will be determined by the Sydney North Planning Panel.
The development is on the site of the Alouette day care centre.
Parents were informed of its closure last year after a mystery buyer snapped up the building.
The Mosman Daily has contacted North Sydney Council for comment.
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