A group of home owners is preparing a detailed planning submission for their area, adjoining St George Hospital, to be upzoned for 11-12 storey buildings.
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The owners of 18 properties in Short Street, Kogarah, say they are not prepared to wait any longer for health authorities to decide whether the area is needed for future expansion of the hospital.
They have formed an incorporated association, Kogarah Centre Development Incorporated, to liaise with the district health service, Georges River Council and the Greater Sydney Commission.
The residents occupy two blocks of three-storey units and two houses.
President Erwin Heinrich said the area could provide mixed-use development, with medical and associated services at bottom levels and apartments above.
”We want to work with the state government, and we are saying, ‘You need accommodation – we will give it to you’,” he said.
Mr Heinrich said their proposal was in line with the concept of Kogarah as a super health and education precinct, outlined in the Greater Sydney Commission’s draft plan for South District.
District Commissioner Morris Iemma told the Leader he encouraged representatives of the group to make a submission, which would be considered next year.
Association vice president Theresa Kot said residents were “taking matters into their own hands because they want an end to uncertainty”.
The area bounded by Short Street, Chapel Street and Gray Street had been earmarked for future hospital use 20 years, she said.
However, health officials had given conflicting advice in recent months on whether the area was wanted for hospital expansion despite the health service already owning more than half the properties within it.
Ms Kot said Georges River Council was also unable to get a clear answer.
The area had been zoned R3 residential, with four storey (15 metre) building heights in Kogarah’s New City Plan, and the residents’ association was seeking it be rezoned for mixed use, with 39 metre building heights.
Ms Kot said building heights had previously been restricted by the proximity of the hospital helipad, but it was being relocated to the new critical services block.
