DA ‘subterfuge’ upsets locals

Residents of Leichhardt are upset over what they describe as a sneaky plan to build a Police local command centre in Derbyshire Road.

Residents claim the DA was submitted on December 23 last year, “with subterfuge and the intention to quietly and quickly pass through council approval processes”.

Opponents to the proposed development say the DA was submitted just before the holiday season so it might slip under the community’s radar. They also claim the DA, registered on the Leichhardt Council website under only its address of 29 Derbyshire Road, is misleading as to the size of the development.

Moreover, residents and local business owners say the proposed site is also wrong for the kinds of infrastructure and environment needed to house a development of the command centre’s scale.

Teena Clarke is one of a group of residents putting together a submission to Council in response to the DA. She wants Council to commission an independent traffic study that looks at the impact on William Street and Henry Street, as well as the network of traffic that feeds onto the City West Link.

“This monstrosity will be… a three-storey modern building in a very small space, adjacent to some heritage-listed buildings, that hasn’t taken into account the aesthetic and heritage values [of the area],” she said. “There is only one public access, via William Street… [which] is also an access to the bus depot.

“William Street currently cannot accommodate a bus and a car at the same time, and the road is already damaged by the buses – there’s already traffic gridlock there in the morning.”

Jennifer Aaron is a local resident and real estate agent who was stunned by the proposal.

“The site they are looking at is absolutely incomprehensible,” she said. “It’s a three-way cul-de-sac. It needs to be somewhere that is a relatively open space, where they’ve got multiple vehicle accesses and where there is sufficient facility for parking – which there isn’t on this site.”

The site is adjacent to Pioneers Memorial Park and Sydney Secondary College – locations which attract school children and families. Ms Clarke said she did not believe they should be put in a situation where they would regularly face mixing with criminals.

“The command centre will be accommodating people who are going to be doing bail and checking in for parole,” she said. “They’ll be taking criminals from outside the area, into the area right next to the park and the high school.”

Lino Rati owns the Villa Rosa reception lounge on Norton Street. He said reception to the idea had been mixed. Although he was familiar with a number of residents and businesses who were against the idea, he opined that opposition was not universal.

“In my opinion it’s a good thing, but it’s just got to be tweaked, a lot,” he said, citing support for the idea from a number of conversations he had conducted with area residents.

He noted, however, that parking issues and lack of an internal access to the building would cause problems for residents and businesses.

Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker said he had met with local residents and heard their complaints on the DA, and was aware the development’s potential impact on the area was concerning for many.

Cr Parker also sits on the Joint Regional Planning Panel which will be reviewing the application.