Residents in Toukley have come out fighting against an audacious move by developer Seranin to advertise a proposed boarding house that is yet to win Council approval as being “under construction”.
The timing of the move has inflamed the community which is currently putting together a second round of responses to a fourth DA the developer had lodged with Council.
Alarmed by the developer’s online advertisement, some of the residents have also expressed strong concerns that the proposed boarding house is reportedly being listed on booking websites, billed as “serviced apartments”.
“I was horrified to see an advertisement for serviced apartments,” said resident, Carolyn Dring.
“The truth is that it will be a boarding house for 92 people,” she said.
51 Peel St, a former nursing home that enjoys views over the lake, has been subject to ongoing contention since the first DA was lodged back in 2018.
Since then, plans for a boarding house have ping ponged between the Council and the owners of the site, Seranin.
The first DA was rejected in 2018, a second withdrawn, a third refused in September 2020, while a fourth, submitted in March, resulted in the Council calling for a significant amount of further information.
Open for community consultation until January 17, this time residents are being asked to respond specifically to the further information that has been supplied Seranin.
Submissions have already been lodged by 10 individuals in response.
The fourth DA attracted 197 community submissions in July, during which time the ‘Concerned Residents of Proposal For Boarding, Toukley’ Facebook group swelled to 311 members with 26 of those joining in the last month alone.
The group has a fresh set of concerns, among them an adjustment to the number of people the boarding house will accommodate.
It was originally stipulated that the building would contain 65 rooms, a number that has fallen by 10 to 55.
At the same time, however, the number of residents has grown from 84 to 92.
Residents say that this modification, which has led to the creation of more double rooms, was subtly introduced in the hope it would be overlooked.
“How many times do we have to submit objections to Council before they will take notice of our concerns?” asked another resident, Maureen Houston.
“We recognise the need for housing but 92 people in one building is an overload,” she said.
The Toukley residents are also demanding clarity on the demographic make-up of those to live in the boarding house.
They claim they were led to believe that the building would only house men, yet the request for further information muddies those waters.
Seranin states that it predicts that the proportion of the future residents are male, but using a Greater Sydney boarding house population as a proxy at 67 per cent, it will be larger than the suburb of Toukley average of 49 per cent.
Earlier this year, a spokesperson, Bronwyn Evans, said that there was a local shortage of support services for residents.
“Access to medical services in Toukley is limited with waits for bulk billed medical services,” she said.
“There is little in the way of employment opportunities for residents, both of the proposed boarding house and others residing in the suburb.
“Public transport in and out of Toukley is limited to buses which are not conveniently scheduled.”
The opposing voices stress that nothing has changed in Toukley; that the lockdown resulted in further stress being placed on medical centres and reliable employment opportunities.
Developers are being accused of shying away from any issues the creation of the boarding house might cause in the area.
“This is the case with any development or with any public space,” said the further information document.
“In the event of concerns, residents have other avenues, including via Police and Council.”
The boarding house will be manned by two security guards who will be on-site 24-hours per day.
One spokesperson for the community group said that did not go far enough to ease their worries.
“We’re looking at nearly 100 men all housed in the same block, with few employment opportunities and infrequent transport connections.
“Toukley, as it currently stands, just can’t support it.”
The former nursing home building has been empty for almost five years with locals reporting it attracts squatters and vandalism.
Nicola Riches