Re the article "Developers win" (Leader, April 3).
Good on councillors McLean and Lansbury! It is high time someone spoke up about the over-development in Kogarah and the very favourable treatment given to many developers.
If we look at what has happened here over the past 10 years it is almost unbelievable. There was an agreement established in the 1990s with the community that there would be no buildings in the CBD taller than the St George Bank. Utterly flouted! Most new buildings are much bigger.
We formed a community group 20 years ago whose objective was "keep Hurstville-style development out of Kogarah". We have utterly failed — it is here.
There is a development control plan. It should be adhered to. It is our only protection. And it is the obligation of council officers and councillors to maintain those plans.
There is a clutch of councillors who have overseen a lot of this development. They vacate the chamber when a matter is to be voted on but sit on
the planning committees. Blatantly unsatisfactory!
An extra three floors and 13 units! That is a great deal of money for someone.
It is sly of Cr Katris to defend this over-development by saying "the council will gain close to one million dollars in section 94 contributions". They would have had almost that amount with the original 10 floors.
It is truly depressing to see these awful buildings proliferate.
Kogarah is truly becoming another Hurstville.
Suzanne O'Connor, Kogarah