THE stand-off between Kellyville Ridge residents and the developer of a multi-storey residential and commercial building in Merriville Road continued last week.
Residents vowed to keep fighting the proposed development, saying it would overload the area's transport, road and infrastructure.
However, Kanebridge Group director Marwan Rahme said while a development application to build an eight-storey complex on the site was lodged with Blacktown Council last year, amended plans for a two- to five-storey development were lodged with the council's planning department in February in response to residents' concerns.
``The finished plans will be in council this week,'' he said. ``We can confirm there will be 199 units, which is substantially less than the 268 originally proposed.
``We want to make the point that we're incorporating 17 retail units to turn a vast vacant lot of land into a vibrant retail hub, which will benefit the local community.
``What I don't understand is we went in with an eight-storey building to make an iconic entrance to Kellyville Ridge.
``We took on board the recommendations of local residents and council and changed it from an eight-storey development to a two- to five-storey development.
``The way it's designed is the central arena is designed to have a community atmosphere.
``I don't think people know that. once the site is officially advertised we encourage
all local residents to have their say.
``To further correspondence with council and the commissioned traffic engineer, we have proposed to install another two-lane roundabout in Merriville Road to assist the flow of traffic.
He said concerns over the lack of infrastructure were misplaced as the site was serviced by the north-west transitway and Windsor Road.
``We chose that site because of its close proximity to Windsor Road,'' he said.
``Why don't residents lobby against the 1500 new houses in The Ponds up the road, which will be serviced by this arterial road network rather than this site which is 50 metres from Windsor Road and the new transitway?''
``We have provided more car parking that is required according to the zoning, and our planned infrastructure upgrade on Merriville Rd, will definitely assist in the flow of traffic.
``We believe in the project and are bemused as to why there is so much community backlash when the plans have not been advertised officially, the question is needed to be asked, who is driving this campaign, and for what reason? We don't play politics, we had a vision for this site, and we encourage local residents to have there say when the official plans are advertised and quite honestly, I think they will be pleasantly surprised.''
Riverstone MP John Aquilina, whose office is in nearby Stanhope Gardens threw his support behind the residents on Friday.
``The fact that the developers now look like changing their plans to a maximum five storey development is concrete evidence that they are aware that legally they are on very shaky ground in asking for approval for a Development Application that varies so widely from the Local Environmental Plan,'' he said.
``The tough fact for them is that what they are proposing is grossly unacceptable for all the relevant reasons that local residents have indicated.
THE RESIDENTS COMMENTS WERE SO NUMEROUS THAT THE NEWS HAS CREATED A MERRIVILLE ROAD BLOG. TO READ ALL COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DEVELOPMENT, MAKE A COMMENT AND KEEP UP TO DAT WITH ITS PROGRESS GO TO THE TOP OF OUR WEB PAGE, CLICK ON OPINION, THEN BLOGS.
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