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Chullora high rise worry

Mayor Khal Asfour with Councillor Bilal El-Hayek at the Chullora Marketplace site of the proposed residential and retail complex.

THE latest proposal to redevelop the Chullora Marketplace shopping centre site into a residential and retail complex with more than 300 units in buildings up to six storeys high, is still causing concern for Canterbury Bankstown councillors.

Hundreds more to add to traffic chaos

However they unanimously voted to send the plans, which includes increasing the building height on the site to 20 metres (six storeys), to a Gateway Determination from the Department of Planning and Environment, while expressing their concerns about the increase in density and traffic, and the impact on the broader community.
The plan is to convert the site into a three to six storey high, residential and retail complex, featuring a central piazza and underground parking.
Developers Henroth Pty Limited who welcomed the decision stated: “The proposal is to transform the existing stand–alone shopping precinct into a true and integrated local centre which provides a well–balanced scale and mix of development with a active, attractive and publicly accessible plaza.
“The key feature is a central piazza to enhance a ‘sense of place’ and provide community space.”
As part of the proposal, the council also wants the proponent to contribute to a district level recreation facility and district level community facility in the Greenacre locality.
The council deferred making a decision late last year so the developer could undertake “adequate base studies” to address infrastructure fears.
Mayor Khal Asfour says the proposal doesn’t tick all the boxes.
“There’s still lot of work to be done,” he said.
He said traffic congestion in the area was already a long-standing issue and a few more hundred residents would only add to the problem.
Cr Bilal El-Hayek says that while concerned about the traffic and broader impact of this proposal, he was equally concerned that the same number of units, or more, could be built under existing controls.
“I don’t think this is a good place for dense development but as I said, it’s already allowed under current controls, therefore I want the community to see this and have a say,” he said.
“The only way that can happen is if we support this going to gateway where the NSW Government will review and approve a public exhibition before this proposal comes back to the council.”