Residents surrounding the site of a proposed eight-metre high home in a declared heritage area are rallying against the plan.
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Neighbours of the planned two-storey house at 22 Hurst Street have lodged submissions to the council en masse, including a graphic designer's images of how it would look from their homes, based on lodged plans.
The submissions are among up to 50 so far sent to the council.
Bradley Street residents Don and Carmen Fischer said the house would dominate the view from their backyard. Their home backs on to the existing house at 22 Hurst Street, which is proposed for demolition.
"The development application is totally inappropriate regardless of any way it is viewed," they wrote in their submission.
"It's a behemoth in proportions of pseudo neo-Georgian facade design that will dwarf the neighbouring residences and have visual and privacy impacts and devaluing effects on all the neighbouring properties. (It will also) have an impact on the heritage aspects of Hurst Street, which is recognised by the council as a conservation area."
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The Fischers have lived in their Federation style home for 33 years. They said the loss of privacy and overshadowing from the proposed house, just three metres from their rear boundary, were the biggest factors.
If it went ahead, they requested opaque glass in its windows.
Mr Fischer has also questioned the purpose of the seven-bedroom, six-bathroom structure, which has three large living spaces and underground car parking for at least four vehicles. He noted that general residential areas prohibited function centres, entertainment facilities, tourist and visitor accommodation.
However the proponent, who does not wish to be named, previously told The Post it was for residential purposes for his family and ruled it out as a meeting place.
The DA values the new home at $1 million but Mr Fischer doubts this figure and is calling for a quantity surveyor's analysis. At 639 square metres he estimates $3000 per square metre and a total $1,916,700 cost.
The couple claim many of the statements in the DA are "fudgery" and overstatements, including that the new house borrows elements from others of a similar era in the street and is of a similar scale.
"It is completely out of character with the area," Mrs Fischer said.
Nearby residents have held two informal meetings about the plan, with some 35 people attending each one.
The applicant wants to demolish the house, which he purchased earlier this year for $950,000. The original section was built between 1888 and 1890 for Goulburn Technical School principal Arthur Sach and his wife, Annie, whom residents' research revealed was influential in the women's suffragette movement.
The application stated the house had been modified four or five times, had extensive cracking and there was "little left of its original fabric."
The neighbours disagree. Bradley Street resident Rebecca Lincoln said the home added to the heritage conservation area. The history partly motivated purchase of her family's home three years ago. It was built in the 1880s for Ann Caldwell, who owned nearby Hurstville with her husband, The Reverend Benjamin Hurst.
"This is a beautiful area of town and I'm worried about how a big building like this on top of the hill will impact," Mrs Lincoln said.
Like the Fischers, she is concerned that windows will look directly into her home and that privacy in her spacious backyard will be lost.
Mrs Lincoln does not believe the proposed design complements what she says are mainly single-storey Victorian and Federation styles in Hurst Street. She has cited council planning design guidelines stating that developments in Heritage Conservation Areas should be of a similar scale to existing structures and should not visually dominate.
Mrs Lincoln told The Post that at just under eight metres, the house would "overwhelm" others.
Next door to her, elderly resident Joy Eldridge, said the view from her living room where she spent most of her time, would be destroyed.
"It will hem me in," she said.
All are worried about the proposed three to four metre excavation for the underground carpark and possible cracking effect in their homes.
The applicant's consultant, Andrew Randall of Randall Dutaillis Architects, said a dilapidation report would be prepared and any repairs undertaken, as was standard. His firm did not design the house but lodged documentation to the council.
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The DA also states the house is of similar scale to others in the area, borrows on their elements and does not overshadow "any major windows in living areas of neighbouring properties (or) "significantly overshadow (their) private open space.
In answer to a question from Deputy Mayor Peter Walker at the November 17 council meeting, environment and planning director Scott Martin said staff had received 40 to 50 public submissions.The closing date was November 16.
"We will work through those and summarise them in the next week," he said.
"Once collated, we'll have a clearer idea of the assessment and whether it can proceed or whether further discussion with the applicant is required. It is still very early."
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Louise Thrower
If you have a story to tell, drop me a line at louise.thrower@austcommunitymedia.com.au or call 0418 229 678.
If you have a story to tell, drop me a line at louise.thrower@austcommunitymedia.com.au or call 0418 229 678.
