By Cam Lucadou-Wells
“Moderate-income” earners are being prioritised for 47 ‘affordable’ future townhouses up for sale at the controversial Coomoora housing estate in Springvale South.
However, the dust still hasn’t settled with the estate’s neighbours who say they are enduring a mass of heavy trucks, dirt, noise and the widespread loss of trees as part of the works on the former Coomoora Secondary College site.
It comes after community uproar forced the State Government’s property developer Development Victoria (DV) to scale down the project at 15-29 Coomoora Road.
Currently, a range of two-storey dwellings are being advertised from $635,000 – $780,000.
Priority access is being given to “eligible moderate-income earners” to buy the homes before they’re on the open market.
DV has stated it aims for least 25 per cent of homes to households earning less than $132,030 a year. A deposit of at least 10 per cent is required.
“The Priority Access program creates a great opportunity to get into a new home,” DV property development group head Penny Forrest said.
“Melbourne’s south-east corridor is one of the city’s fastest growing areas.
“Developments such as Coomoora will help to meet housing demands as this region’s population continues to grow and offer residents low maintenance townhouses with access to quality open space.”
DV had scaled back its original, unpopular plan for 90 dwellings on the former school site.
The revised master plan will total 63 lots – including 16 land-only sites already sold.
Visitor parking was increased from 20 spots to 28, some roads widened and open space expanded to about 10 per cent of the 4.4 hectare site. Some existing significant trees were to be retained.
Cr Tim Dark described the project as still a “gross overdevelopment” in a suburban residential area.
“They have used an extreme level of site coverage to cram in townhouses.
“I can foreshadow significant issues with its minimal amount of visitor car parking.”
He said traffic issues were exacerbated by the adjoining Keysborough Primary School, plans for a council-funded kindergarten and a proposed townhouse estate on vacant land at 46-62 Darren Road and 55-67 Coomoora Road.
A lot of neighbours are upset about the surge of heavy vehicles, early-morning noise and the earth-fill being spilled on streets with “minimum consultation”, he said.
“The correspondence with residents has been incredibly poor, particularly given that the developer is a state developer.”
Neil Jamieson, who has lived in the area for 12 years, says he’s being woken every morning at 6am by a tip truck being started up near his house.
“He rumbles past my home, the whole house shakes and the front facing bedroom fills with diesel fumes and particulate matter.”
Mr Jamieson says streets are covered in clay from heavy vehicles, which will potentially “pull apart” the newly-laid bitumen on Northgate Drive.
The cattle grids at each access point of the building site were insufficient to clean off the earth fill, the former building-site manager says.
An on-site washdown bay for trucks should be standard.
“It’s not unattainable. It just costs money. Builders and developers will get away with what they can, so it requires the council to demand it.
“The council needs to establish a set of rules on how (the works) will operate and then the council needs to ensure that they comply.”
Meanwhile, all of the large trees near his home have been removed, despite promises to retain some significant trees, Mr Jamieson says.
Another resident Tarek Clements said there’s been “zero regard” for neighbours, he says.
A past student at the site, he says the school should have remained for the growing nearby estates.
Mr Clements says he’s had concerns about the development from “day 1”, with houses squashed together like “dog boxes”.
“This new thing looks like a ghetto. Affordable housing is code for squeezing in as much as you can.
“We had to fight Development Victoria so hard with the mayor and the councillors on side to get a half-decent result. They’re a law unto themselves.”
DV’s plans for works have been approved by City of Greater Dandenong.
Greater Dandenong city planning director Jody Bosman said the council had investigated and taken “all necessary action” on complaints about the building works.
“Ongoing compliance with relevant permits are being monitored.”
In June, he told Star Journal that the council issued a planning permit allowing the removal of some vegetation.
“A number of significant trees have been retained due to the location of various open space areas to be created on site.”
According to DV, detailed information about the works was provided by door-knocking and letter drops to neighbours.
A DV spokesperson said “we’re working hard to minimise any impact to local residents while works are underway at our Coomoora development, and we thank the local community for its patience.”
DV’s affordable housing offer comes during a deepening “housing crisis” in the South East, with rentals increasingly unaffordable for low-income people.
According to City of Greater Dandenong, the council area has the highest rate rate of homelessness and rental stress in the state, with the challenges of low-income levels, high unemployment, substantial refugee settlement and lower mental and physical health outcomes.
The civil works at Coomoora are expected to finish by mid-2023, with house construction to follow.
