The former Master Plumbers Association site on the corner of Gelibolu Parade and Percy Street, needs to be rezoned from light industrial use in order to be redeveloped into a private school for 650 students.
Located 130 metres from the Gallipoli Mosque, the bilingual school is being developed by the Australian Turkish Maarif Foundation (ATMF) on land owned by Gallipoli Education Solutions.
Urging the council to move forward with the proposal, Granville parent Hulya Uzum said having her children travel more than an hour away to the school’s temporary campus, was “extremely difficult”.
In October last year, councillors deferred a decision on the planning proposal to allow feedback from Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) following a draft traffic study of the Gelibolu precinct.
Council staff also noted at the time that while the applicant had offered a contribution of $150,000 towards a potential link from Gelibolu Parade (Auburn) through to Church Street (Lidcombe), its feasibility was “problematic” and “yet to be verified”.
At last week’s meeting, councillors accepted a recommendation to move the proposal to public exhibition after amended conditions in the Gateway Determination (GD) were addressed, and following feedback from both TfNSW and RMS.
Part of the RMS response noted that a Gelibolu traffic study was creating delays with the exhibition of the planning proposal, and that it was “unlikely to identify road upgrades that would have any direct impact or land dedication requirement” for the site.
The RMS also recommended removing reference to the Church Street link which was “not supported” by TfNSW from the GD conditions.
Have say on new school
A PLANNING proposal for a new Islamic School in Auburn is set to go on public exhibition, although traffic concerns which held up the process last year, have not been entirely resolved.
