GREEN space in Oxley, once owned by ratepayers before a million dollar sale last July, is back in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Four times in 2010, residents have complained about plans for the 3733sq m block on the corner of Douglas and Valance streets, which has been used as a community park for more than 40 years.
Residents wanted the Brisbane City Council to preserve the block for parkland and protested when it was listed for sale and in mid-January organised a petiton objecting to a sale.
They expressed outrage when it was sold to Puce Pty Ltd for $1.5 million as part of a citywide sale of public land and are now calling on the council to reject a proposal to build 20 townhouses, eight small lot houses and two other dwellings there.
Robyn Kilmartin, who lives in Valance St, is concerned about losing local flora and fauna as well as traffic congestion. “The traffic is going to be horrendous,” Mrs Kilmartin said. “We don’t have the infrastructure for this.”
Ruth Hamlyn-Harris has lived near the block for 30 years and received a letter from Lord Mayor Campbell Newman in August stating only “normal suburban stand-alone houses” could be built there.
“If we can’t leave the space empty, the less that goes on there the better,” she said.
Richlands ward Councillor Milton Dick said the development was too large for the area with many residents concerned about traffic congestion and environmental impacts.
“Locals have contacted me upset and they want the development scaled back,” he said.
Puce Pty Ltd director Greg Wright said the development application, submitted last week, was appropriate for the area and residents’ concerns needed to be verified. “Residents have the right to put their case as much as we do,” he said.