A Sydney football club is fighting against a plan to build eight-storey apartment blocks overlooking its home ground, worried that an influx of neighbours will bring a barrage of noise complaints.
Developer Platino Properties has lodged a planning proposal seeking permission to construct four buildings – two with eight storeys and two with six storeys – on industrial land next to Lambert Park, home of the APIA Leichhardt Football Club.
A developer plans to build apartment buildings behind this soccer pitch. Credit: APIA Leichhardt FC
The development is the latest example of rising tensions between locals and developers in the inner west, as established suburbs are set to get more high-density buildings under council’s mass rezoning plan to deliver 30,000 new homes.
APIA president Tony Raciti fears that once residents move into the new units, the club will become “the next Luna Park” and that it will be flooded with complaints from neighbours. In 1995, the NSW Supreme Court restricted the operating hours of the Big Dipper rollercoaster after a group of neighbouring residents complained about noise.
“It’s a sports facility used from 7am up to 10pm, and we make a lot of noise. We scream, shout, the referees blow whistles, floodlights would be penetrating into people’s bedrooms,” he said.
“We aren’t anti-housing. We want skyscrapers in Leichhardt. The more people that move here, the more registrations we get – [but this proposal] is just not compatible.”
An artist’s impression of the proposed development at 67-75 Lords Road, Leichhardt.
The developer wants to build 210 dwellings with retail space on the ground floor and extra public green space.
The site is next to the light rail tracks and the GreenWay, and a short walk to the Marion stop. Currently, the site is occupied by a warehouse and car parking spaces.
Ryde mother Angela Dossetor, who is also involved with APIA, doesn’t want the buildings looming over the pitch where her children play. She also fears the impact new homes will have on local traffic.
“Those dwellings will be looking down onto the field, and we’ve got kids as young as four training there. It just gives you the ick,” she said.
The Lords Road site is currently used as industrial land. Credit: Wolter Peeters
Public submissions closed earlier this month, and amendments to the local environmental plan to allow the development are being drafted for consideration by the Department of Planning.
This isn’t the first time the developer has tried to get the project off the ground – two previous attempts at rezoning were rejected. The Inner West Council opposed the proposal, saying the industrial land needed to be protected.
Pro-housing group Yes In My Backyard said an industrial site next to public transport and nearby retail amenities was the ideal location for more housing.
A spokesman for developer Platino Properties said they “look forward to working with the APIA Club and other stakeholders during the design phase, and we would be very happy to hear from anyone who would like to know more about the project”.
While the Lords Road proposal pre-dates the Inner West Council’s housing plan, locals will need to get used to an influx of developments. Council’s housing plan identifies Leichhardt as an area with “new housing opportunities” and it suggests developments up to five storeys be allowed adjacent to Lambert Park.
Apartment blocks up to 11 storeys tall will be allowed in Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Croydon and Ashfield stations under the housing plan.
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