Austino plan for Forest Park, Epping, under review

THE old Epping bowling club has gone, the land has been flattened and cleared, and a big development is ready to go. Just how big remains to be seen.

Artists impressions of the development on Epping Road, Blaxland Road, Forest Grove and Forest Park in Epping by Austino Property Group. Picture: Austino Property Group

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GONE is the the former Epping bowling club, the rabbits which made it their own and the trucks and sheds of the government contruction depot which had been using the site since January 2014.

The expansive conveniently perfectly flat block, together with the adjoining row of houses and apartment buiildings along Epping Rd, is ready for the Austino company’s big redevelopment project. Just how big remains to be seen.

Rabbits are living on the grounds of the Epping Bowling Club.

The only buildings still standing on the proposed development site at the corner of Epping and Blaxland Rds are the former Tuffy Mufflers workshops and a block of units next door.

They are destined to go, just as the the other homes along Epping Rd between Blaxland Rd and Forst Grove have already.

Developer Austino has taken its plan for 654 units and shops in nine buildings adjoining Forest Park, towering up to 72 metres at the intersection closest to Epping station, to the NSW government rather than resubmit it to the council.

Hornsby Shire Council said in April that Austino needed to review the bulk and traffic impact of the proposal. Parramatta City Council has since taken responsibility for the whole of Epping, following a redrawing of local government boundaries as part of the process of amalgamatng local councils.

The Department of Planning has asked an independent panel to investigate issues including traffic, building heights, potential overshadowing and public open space.

“Once the results of this investigation are received, the department would then assess the proposal and decide whether it has enough strategic merit to be publicly exhibited for community consultation,” a spokesman said.

Austino is offering Parramatta Council public facilities and $10 million, which may be used for a swimming pool, as part of what is called a voluntary planning agreement.

Advocates of the Dence Park pool at Epping, known as the Save Epping Pool group, want the money spent on the existing pool rather than on a pool that Austino would build as a central feature opf the 6600 sqm of open space facilities it would provide.