WHEN: 8pm Thursday 19 November 2009

WHERE: Summer Hill Community Centre, 131 Smith St, Summer Hill

WHAT: See Marrickville Council’s draft master plan for the McGill Street Lewisham precinct (site of the proposed Lewisham Towers).

• Local resident, Greg Frith will take you through Council’s draft master plan. Time will then be available for the local community to express their opinions.
• Local Councillors from Marrickville and Ashfield Councils will be available to hear your points of view and answer your questions.
• The draft master plan forms an alternative vision to the Lewisham Towers proposal of a supermarket mall and 14 storey apartment towers. It is important for the local community to engage in the process and express their opinion.
• This is also your chance to support the NO LEWISHAM TOWERS residents action group by joining up and making a donation.

You can view a copy of the plans here.

Map to community meeting venue:

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Protestors at Summer Hill Community Centre. Photo: Tim Clapin

Summer Hill Community Centre was bursting at the seams last Wednesday night as the Marrickville and Ashfield communties united to vent their anger over a proposal for a 14-storey, five-tower development at Lewisham.

Last week’s community meeting may have been hosted by the Marrickville Greens but there was a show of bipartisan opposition to the development, with speeches from Ashfield ALP councillor Alex Lofts and Ashfield independent councillor Caroline Stott.

“It will create more pressure on parking,” Cr Stott said. “Over 500 new apartments means 1000 new residents, mostly with cars; the streets on either side of the development are already traffic bottlenecks.”

Cr Lofts said the development presented an opportunity for the community to disregard political differences and band together to create a plan of action.
The Greens fear the development, which would include two 14-level towers, one 12-level tower, plus 524 residential units and a 9000sq m retail space for a supermarket, liquor store and 15 specialty shops, would harm local shopping strips in Lewisham, Petersham, Summer Hill and Leichhardt, disrupt traffic and create new precedents for building size and height.
Greens MLC Sylvia Hale accused the State Government and Demian Developments of avoiding community consultation and rushing through the project under the controversial part 3A.

“Section 3A has an absence of genuine political involvement and consultation with the community. It’s carried on behind closed doors. Then you have to live with the consequences regardless of the long term effects,” she said.

Demian Developments were contacted for comment but did not respond.

Read the article on the InnerWest Courier’s website.

This is the resolution of the public meeting held 20 May 2009 at the Summer Hill Community Centre. Please send any comments to mphillips@marrickville.nsw.gov.au

We will send this to the local representatives on Wednesday 27 May 2009.

Resolution of the public meeting

20 May 2009

Summer Hill Community Centre

We, the residents and voters of Ashfield, Summer Hill, Lewisham, Dulwich Hill, Petersham, Marrickville and beyond, are opposed to the Lewisham Towers development.

We are concerned that this development:

• is a gross overdevelopment of the site;
• sets unwanted precedents for building height and size for the Inner West – including the Summer Hill flour mill site;
• is totally out of scale with the surrounding community;
• will overwhelm local roads and create traffic congestion and noise and air pollution;
• is a threat to the viability of local shopping strips and small businesses;
• will harm the population of threatened long-nosed bandicoots in the area;
• disrupts the vision of the Cooks River to Iron Cove Greenway active transport corridor;
• uses Part 3A of the EPA Act to bypass the local Council and effectively sideline the community from the development process.

We call on the local members, Carmel Tebbutt, Linda Burney, Virginia Judge, Anthony Albanese, and all local councillors from Marrickville, Ashfield and Leichhardt Councils, and all political parties to actively oppose this development.

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The content of this resolution was drafted and passed unanimously by this meeting.

Last night the communities of Lewisham and Summer Hill turned up in droves to find out about the proposed development and express their opposition to this gross overdevelopment of the Longport Street area. With speakers from the Greens, the Australian Labor Party & an Independent this was a truly nonpartisan effort by local councillors from Ashfield and Marrickville to side with the community on this issue.

The Summer Hill Community Centre was packed with people eager to hear and be heard. It was standing room only as local residents voiced their concerns about the size of this development, the effect it would have on local streets and shops and the local endangered bandicoot population along the Greenway.

The resolution suggested by last night’s meeting will be available on this here for comment and discussion. Moving forward once the amendment is passed we will arrange delivery to the offices of the Minister for Planning and the Deputy Premier. The most important thing now is to not get complacent. Send letters to the local and state newspapers, contact your local Members of Parliament. Ensure that the government knows how you feel about this development.