Vacant houses on Canterbury Rd, Blackburn, provoke complaints
THREE properties owned by Chinese developers near a blue-chip lakeside precinct are falling into disrepair after a string of failed development plans — and neighbours have had enough.
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THREE properties owned by Chinese developers near a blue-chip lakeside precinct are falling into disrepair after a string of failed development plans — and neighbours have had enough.
When Whitehorse Leader visited 199, 201 and 203 Canterbury Rd last week, close to the blue-chip Blackburn Lake Precinct, the blocks were empty and neglected.
Sheets of corrugated iron had been fixed over the windows of the double-storey house at 199 Canterbury Rd — which sold for $2.2 million in May 2016 — while the blinds were drawn in the other two.
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The yards were unkempt and junk mail was spilling out of the mailboxes.
It’s understood all three derelict houses are owned by one Chinese developer.
Whitehorse Council general manager corporate services Peter Smith said the council had received “a number of complaints” about long grass and “similar matters over a period of time” at the properties.
An elderly woman who lives up the road, and did not want to be named, said the houses had been empty for years.
She knew the people who lived in the houses once, but hadn’t been aware of any new occupants since they left about two years ago.
“It would be nice for something to happen to them,” she said. “It just makes the place look so untidy.”
But the owners of the houses have been unsuccessfully trying to develop them for some time.
Plans to turn 199 Canterbury Rd into a childcare centre were knocked back at VCAT in 2016 and again in May this year.
The tribunal refused amended designs for a 122-place childcare centre with a basement carpark in May, after the council and its officers were divided on whether to issue a permit.
The tribunal found a childcare centre was acceptable in the location, but the design would have had too much impact on the landscape and trees.
A woman living down the road said the owners had also had a number of problems at the property during the court proceedings, after tenants moved out two years earlier. “All the druggies were living there,” she said.
She said the next-door-neighbours had told her how much they absolutely “hated it”.
“Every night there were fights and screaming.”
The woman said when the house was listed for sale in the last eight months, but did not sell, she saw the poor state it was in.
“There was graffiti everywhere inside the house,” she said.
The woman said there were also plans to turn 201 Canterbury Rd into a medical facility.
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An application to build three double-storey houses at the site was filed in October 2017 but withdrawn in April.
The council refused to issue a permit for the construction of four double-storey houses at 203 Canterbury Rd in August, after the application had been filed in April 2017.
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