AFTER years of speaking out about the influx of duplex developments that have “flooded” Diamond Drive, resident Regina Wasow reached breaking point when she realised yet another dual-occupancy development was going ahead across the road.
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“Almost every second place is a duplex,” she said. “We had heaps of duplexes before and the noise levels were bad and now they [Orange City Council] have approved more.”
Ms Wasow is calling for the council to stop approving more dual-occupancy in the crowded street.
“There’s more [vacant] blocks, that’s what concerns me,” she said.
“They need to have a look at what they’re approving.”
Deputy mayor Jeff Whitton said he would ask council staff to review planning policies for dual-occupancy developments in the area.
“I’m certainly sympathetic with the residents who raise concerns,” he said.
“Unfortunately for council there’s precedents in that area.”
“We could revisit the policies to see if there was any room or mechanisms to allow us to refuse future [dual-occupancy] development in that area based on the number that are there.”
Ms Wasow said real estate agents had told her the high number of dual-occupancies in her street have devalued her home.
“John Davis says progress has got to go ahead but why don’t they put some near him and see if he thinks progress has got to go ahead?” she said.
“Most of them are rented so you don’t know who we are going to get.”
Ms Wasow said when her family built their home in the street there were hardly any other properties and now she estimates there are 50 unit dwellings.
“It’s all good and well to have development and progress in Orange but there’s too much progress in Diamond Drive,” she said.
“If we’d known it would be this bad we wouldn’t have contemplated buying here.”
Cr Whitton admitted there needed to be balance.
“We can’t have one entire subdivision built out with a particular type of dwelling,” he said.
Ms Wasow said despite being promoted as an affordable housing solution, some duplexes had sold for us much as $340,000.
Cr Whitton said there was a market for dual-occupancy developments.
“The issue is they [residents] believe these types of dwellings will be rentals and that brings a different social event to the neighbourhood,” he said.
“I know a lot of people who live around these types of dwellings and they don’t have a problem with them.”
clare.colley@ruralpress.com
