Friday, November 9, 2007

Blog Review:
Glebe Point Diner, on the blog The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Boarding house sacrificed to apartments development

By Sunanda Creagh, The Sydney Morning Herald
"A GLEBE boarding house will be turned into multimillion-dollar waterfront apartments after the State Government lifted a ban on redeveloping the site.
The eight-room Mary Street house, which fronts Blackwattle Bay, was previously covered by State Environmental Planning Policy 10, a law that prohibits redevelopment of low-cost housing.
But the Planning Department recently granted the owner an exemption. The owner has permission to build a car park and three apartments. The house's two tenants will be evicted in less than 60 days.
A City of Sydney Greens councillor, Chris Harris, is furious that the exemption was granted. "The place is in reasonable condition. It's rentable. But the end result is we will lose eight pieces of cheap accommodation close to the city because of a decision by the Planning Minister. Affordable housing is meant to be protected by SEPP 10 and clearly it's really easy to get out of."
A spokesman for the Department of Planning said the exemption was granted because the boarding house was regarded as not financially viable according to specific guidelines. ..."

Read the full article from The Sydney Morning Herald here.