MIRANDA residents are trying to stop a development application from being approved for a boarding house in their area.
The final decision is set to be made in the NSW Land and Environment Court after Sutherland Shire Council’s deemed refusal of the application.
The DA, which was lodged under State Environmental Planning Policy (Affordable Rental House) 2009, is for a 22-room, two-storey boarding house on the corner of Mooki Street and Karimbla Road, Miranda.
Residents have collected hundreds of signatures opposing the DA, citing the ‘‘social impact’’ of such a development.
The are opposed to its location, which is two houses away from Centenary Park and opposite two childcare centres.
They are arguing that while it has 22 rooms, the number of residents will be closer to 40.
The site is close to 38 parcels of land used for social and affordable housing, mainly owned by NSW Housing and operated by St George Community Housing.
Resident Diane Hallion said: ‘‘Our area is in the middle of a large social-housing area and we all work together; however, the last thing we need is private developers adding extra structures’’.
‘‘These large boarding houses with transient, dislocated and often antisocial resident populations should not be built within R2 low density and R3 medium density areas.
‘‘They can easily destabilise whole communities,’’ she said.
‘‘The shire is different from the inner city as are the type of residents requiring boarding houses.
‘‘Our area is predominantly seniors and families who have chosen the suburbs for community and safety and have chosen to forgo the convenience of being close to the city and their jobs.
‘‘High-density areas could probably absorb these type of boarding houses better as everyone lives in a security block.
‘‘State government legislation opens up the development of boarding houses to private developers. These can go anywhere they like and if the council objects then they can go to the Land and Environment Court.’’
The statement of environmental effects, lodged on behalf of the developer, said the proposed boarding house was consistent with the Affordable Rental Housing State Environmental Planning Policy, the Sutherland Shire Local Environmental Plan 2006 and the draft LEP 2013.
It said the proposal would not unreasonably affect the natural or built environment or the amenity of surrounding properties and was ‘‘an appropriate use of this location’’. ‘‘As the proposed boarding house contributes to providing much-needed affordable accommodation in the area it is considered to be in the public interest,’’ it said.
But council staff said the application had significant shortcomings and could not be supported. Amended plans previously reduced the number of rooms to 22, reduced the roof height and relocated a communal open space. A council report said the application did not evaluate social impact, while the council’s communities unit did not support the proposal due to the potential for adverse effects caused by clustering social housing.
The council report said a 22-room boarding house would likely erode the existing character of the zone though cumulative social effects.
A petition calling for increased powers for councils to determine and refuse DAs for boarding houses is at Miranda MP Barry Collier’s electorate office.
Do you think there should be more boarding houses in the shire?
