Girraween boarding house rejected at 96 Oramzi Rd
A western Sydney neighbourhood has won a battle to block boarding house plans for their family-friendly community.
Parramatta
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Plans for a 31-unit boarding house that residents feared would attract illegal activity in Girraween have been dumped after a panel cited the building was too tall for the neighbourhood.
More than 200 people signed a petition opposing the three-storey boarding house for 96 Oramzi Rd.
The Cumberland Local Planning Panel met last week and spurned the application lodged with the council because of the height of the building, which proposed 20 single rooms, nine double rooms, manager’s accommodation and a 21-space carpark.
In July, Prospect state Labor MP Hugh McDermott objected to the plans.
Satya Maddi, who lives next door to the site where it was proposed, said the boarding house was out of character with the area.
“I’m the person living next to that house so we have various concerns with security and traffic and other issues and acoustics,’’ he said.
Fellow Oramzi Rd resident Srinivas Sunki said the plans were contentious because of its proximity to Saint Anthony’s Primary School and Girraween Public School.
“ … Over the last 20 years, the people are coming and living there because of the schools or families focused on education and we are living peacefully,’’ he said.
When a panel member asked Mr Maddi if he supported the original plans for a seven-unit boarding house, he agreed it would be more ideal than the 31 proposed.
“We are only opposed to the nature of the building coming in, there are no proper document guidelines … so there are concerns,’’ he said.
Mr Sunki also argued there were enough multi-dwelling blocks in the suburb.
“In terms of affordability there’s already a number of townhouses, units being built in Girraween and close by Toongabbie so … Girraween is already affordable and there are many houses that are on lease or in market for quite some time … before they’re being leased out.’’
Engineer and Girraween resident Ramakrishnan Baskaran said there was inappropriate drainage and flooding plans.
In its reason for rejecting the boarding house, the panel cited the application failed to meet guidelines under the former Holroyd Local Environmental Plan “and the development will not be in the public interest because it is inconsistent with the objectives of the height standard”.
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