Poor developments on the rise!
A street pole that blocks garage access to a new house in suburban Adelaide is a “cracking example of very low-quality infill development”, a councillor has said.
West Torrens councillor John Woodward said council approved a housing plan that split a block in Daly Street at Kurralta Park to allow two new dwellings, but the builder then changed the garage location.
“I just don’t think there is any way you could reasonably get a car in that driveway,” Mr Woodward told ABC Adelaide.
“The advice I’ve been given is that the council could not change the location.”
He said councillors had now voted to write to the state Planning Minister about what they saw as a growing problem as metropolitan housing density increased.
The quality of infill development is just not up to scratch. We’re concerned about making future developments higher quality,” he said.
The councillor said Daly Street was a classic example of problems emerging across Adelaide.
“The streets get blocked up with cars, and when someone comes to visit there’s nowhere to park,” he said.
“A lot of residents have expressed to me concern about the safety of exiting their driveways because of how many cars are parking in the street.”
He said builders were often designing garages that were unlikely ever to see a car in them.
“There’s many examples in this street. The garages are too narrow so big cars can’t fit in, so people just don’t use them; they park in the street.”
MARKETING THE HOUSE MIGHT BE A CHALLENGE: REAL ESTATE AGENT
Real Estate Institute chief executive Greg Troughton said such a property might prove to be a marketing challenge for a real estate agent in the future.
But he said it was increasingly common for people to make use of garage space for purposes other than parking.
“We’re seeing it more and more that the garage is the spare room,” he said.
“But I find it quite amusing and frustrating [in this case] that you can actually build something that can’t physically be used for what it’s meant to be used for.”
Planning Minister John Rau said the Government had not been involved in the Kurralta Park case.
“I reject any suggestion that the State Government had anything to do with the construction on this allotment in this way,” he said.
His office said that when any street infrastructure needed to be moved, such as poles, bus stops or post boxes, a council and the applicant usually worked on a solution and the applicant usually paid for it.
Original article ABC News
