Retired school teachers Janet and Harry Cave moved to a house on Sydney's northern beaches to be close to their only child and granddaughter eight years ago.
But their world was turned upside down weeks before Christmas when they received a knock on the door to tell them their three-bedroom townhouse at Balgowlah was set to be acquired for the so-called Beaches Link road tunnel project.
Balgowlah residents Janet and Harry Cave. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
"I said I would never move again after I had a stroke," Mrs Cave said.
"The thought of leaving here, and what we have put into it to make it comfortable for us to end our days, is really distressing. We put in all our money into buying here."
Janet, 80, and Harry, 87, are among dozens of property owners along a street bordering Balgowlah Golf Course who have been told their homes will be acquired for the multibillion-dollar toll road.
Their daughter, Philippa Cave, has serious concerns that the stress of the acquisition process, and the search for a new home, will compromise her parents' health.
"When dad got the information he rang me in tears. The government has given this news right before Christmas, when the [environmental impact statement for the project] hasn’t even come out – it is a slap in the face," she said.
"They just expected they were going to live out their lives there."
Ironically, her home on Dudley Street will be about the only one left standing after the state acquires the others over the next year. She said her home had already dropped in value due to the project and now she faced the prospect of living next door to a large construction site for years.
Dudley Street resident Fiona Douglas. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
The seven-kilometre Beaches Link tunnels will extend from Balgowlah and Seaforth to the Warringah Freeway at North Sydney, where it will connect to another proposed tunnel under Sydney Harbour.
In all, 31 of the 35 homes to be acquired for the Beaches Link are on Dudley Street. The state will buy a further 13 "non-residential properties" for the project.
Balgowlah homeowner Fiona Douglas and her three daughters face an equally uncertain future. A transport official phoned her just over a week ago to tell her that her four-bedroom house on Dudley Street would be acquired for the Beaches Link.
"I was absolutely gutted when I found out and there were lots of tears. We have been here for nearly 12 years – I have raised my three daughters here," she said. "It is very brutal the way they do it. I just don't think there is a personal approach to it."
Her main concern now is whether the money that the state ends up paying for her home will be enough to allow her to buy a similar house on the northern beaches, at a time when Sydney has recorded its strongest monthly rise in house values since 1988.
"I'm a single mum so I don't earn a huge amount and this property is my asset. I just need to know that I'm going to be in the same position," she said. "I should be entitled to buy back into the same market. I can't afford a mortgage and I don't want to move out of the northern beaches."
The state's transport agency said it was committed to "dealing fairly with property owners" and they would be paid market-value prices as stipulated under the Land Acquisition Act.
"Market value is the amount that would have been paid for the property if it had been sold on the open market, if the proposed project did not exist," Transport for NSW said.
The agency said homeowners indirectly impacted by construction might be eligible to have their properties acquired.
The government is yet to reveal when the Balgowlah Golf Course will be closed for use as a construction site for the Beaches Link. Once the project is completed in the second half of next decade, the nine-hole course will have been turned into a public space.