Little Grove appeal group housing

Little Grove residents will appeal to the State Administrative Tribunal after the City of Albany chose not to revoke a decision approving 28 group dwellings at council on Tuesday night.

Council went behind closed doors after accepting the matter as an urgent item and emerged to tell disappointed residents they would not rescind last month’s motion to approve the development application, subject to conditions.

Little Grove residents filled the council chambers holding signs saying “please consult” and “please consider”, but council would not be swayed.

Mayor Milton Evans said City chief executive Faileen James had sought legal advice on the matter and based on that advice council decided it was unlawful to proceed with the rescission motion.

Following council’s decision to approve the controversial development last month, Mr Evans said he wished council had used its discretion and sought public comment on the issue before proceeding, even though it was not legally required to do so in this matter.

The residents will now hinge their hopes on the tribunal appeal.

Little Grove’s Ramin Majidi said residents would have preferred to work with council and developers to jointly plan the future of Little Grove.

“The most concerning aspect of the proposed development is the complete lack of consultation with those whose lives will be most affected by it,” Mr Majidi said.

“The likelihood that local residents would be happy with an inner city style development squeezed into our spacious, family-orientated community was surely small indeed.”

Residents at Tuesday’s meeting voiced a number of other concerns about the proposed development, relating to lot size and density, parking requirements, public open space, common land and traffic management.

Director of developer Yaran, Faryar Gorjy, said the company was working to address the community’s concerns.

“The development will be of the highest quality and has been carefully designed to provide large open space and vegetation buffers to be in keeping with the leafy character of Little Grove,” he said.

“Yaran looks forward to providing full facts about the development to the community soon.”

Got a story? Contact elle.farcic@albanyadvertiser.com