Show of strength at Daceyville sports precinct proposal
AN URGENT meeting has been called after a community backlash following the release of plans for a sports stadium
Southern Courier
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RESIDENTS have reacted with anger to plans for a sporting stadium in a much loved park.
Several Daceyville residents attended the Bayside Council meeting on Wednesday and spoke passionately in opposition to proposals for Astrolabe Park.
Tuesday’s Southern Courier revealed rival bids to transform Daceyville into a major sporting precinct.
One proposal is from Cricket NSL and AFL NSW for a new base for the Sydney Sixers and the Sydney Swans. They plan to build a cricket oval, AFL field, pavilion, administration buildings, cafe, indoor training centre and cricket nets.
The groups have indicated they would need to move in from April 2019 with the impending redevelopment of Allianz Stadium.
The other bid is from a group called the Sydney International Beach Volleyball Centre Consortium.
Its planned “sport and entertainment complex” would consist of a 6500-seat stadium with a retractable roof to be used for volleyball, other sports, concerts, international conferences and functions.
There would also be accommodation on-site, a restaurant/cafe hub, forecourt plaza for community events and outdoor cinema and a lagoon with more cafes and restaurants.
Residents called the development highly inappropriate and told of their shock at only reading about it in this week in the Southern Courier.
Resident Evelyn Platus, who spoke at the meeting, has lived next to the park for 30 years.
“I was shocked to see in the Southern Courier the plans outlined in the park and horrified that such a large impact on my quality of life could be this far along the planning process without hearing one word of it from the council,” she said.
“It is a quiet residential area and not designed for the traffic flow this will bring.”
Fellow Daceyville resident Amanda Wilson said she was deeply concerned that residents had received no prior notice of the plans.
“We only learnt about this this morning when the Courier arrived … We are concerned that development proposals such as these can be entertained by the council without any apparent reference in them to environmental and traffic impact and with no communication to residents.”
Heffron state Labor MP Ron Hoenig also addressed the meeting and told of his concerns, particularly given the park’s former use.
“I would remind council that the park was a rubbish tip and in late 70s before Botany Council constructed playing fields,” he said.
He said there were fears about possible asbestos underneath the surface and said any development of the park would prove costly.
“It is not an appropriate place for a 5,000 seat volleyball stadium. Even if it could be built there, there are only narrow areas to get in. You can’t have 5000 people going to be a beach volleyball game through the streets of Daceyville.”
However, the MP said he was more accepting of the Cricket NSW/AFL NSW plan — provided the community was given access to the sports fields.
Councillor Christina Curry called for a public meeting to be held in the next month for the community to have their say on the plans.
The council’s general manager stressed the proposed project was still in its very early stages and at this stage the local authority was only looking into whether any development was possible.
A date and venue for the community meeting will be set in the next few weeks.
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