The sheer hypocrisy between the comments coming from Georges River Council and what residents are experiencing was possible to read in the Leader (April 10 and April 17).
While at council, Mayor Greene espouses the virtues of more high-rise buildings as being able to deliver "a vibrant precinct" in the "Civic Hub" with a "pocket park" supposedly suited to the 300 residential units, which equates to approximately 852 residents.
In the Opinion letters, Melissa Derwent quotes the trains as being at 135 per cent capacity, so how does the same train accommodate greater numbers? R Piech and other comments put the decision into the state government and Greater Sydney Commission's hands.
The Georges River Local Planning Panel found "strategic merit" in the development proposal with some reference to the doubtful "community facilities and benefits". No mention of traffic movement.
And yet for these residents in the 'Civic Hub', how to reach some open space, some recreational facilities, they need transport and it isn't public transport, rather private cars are needed to reach parks, ovals, beaches and foreshore and play grounds outside the high-rise residential areas.
Kogarah North Precinct has an even greater density of units and population planned along Stanley and Regent Streets (Leader, April 10). Application for higher heights, some 307 units, that's about 872 residents.
The irony, the GRC Report states that these developments will not have 'any adverse impacts on the natural and built environment'. It's not believable that a town planner can make such a statement to the community. A change of building density from a single storey to 11 storeys, removal of green trees, does impact on the local environment. And further these units - in Regent Street - will overlook the school buildings and yards at Kogarah Public School.
I want less positive spin from council.
T Kot, Kogarah
