Unity against units

By Melissa Meehan
WORRIED that the character of their street will be ruined, Pakenham residents are pleading with council to knock back an application to build seven units down Ahern Road.
Spokesman for the group, Graeme Clark, said residents were fearful that a block of land cleared recently on Ahern Road would result in a large number of units being built on the property after a resident from a neighbouring property got talking to the builder.
“The builder assured the resident that he already had the go-ahead to build seven units,” Mr Clark said.
“But when we contacted the council, they say they have heard nothing of it.”
Mr Clark said the introduction of units in the street would affect the look of the area, and Ahern Road residents were unhappy with the way it was being done.
“The builder is telling us one thing, and the council another,” he said.
“A lot of us have lived in the street for a long time. We just want to know what is going on.”
Aside from their personal views on the introduction of units to the area, Mr Clark said before council issued a permit to build them it should take a number of other things into consideration.
“The road is very narrow, so there would need to be sufficient parking for seven units on site,” he said.
“Not to mention the environmental effects that have already taken place since the house and beautiful garden on that property was cleared.”
He said many residents feared that once one permit to build a large number of units was issued in the area, it would lead to many more.
“If you have a look around the street, there are a lot of houses on fairly large blocks of land,” he said.
“We don’t want it to open the flood gates.”
A spokesperson for the Cardinia Shire said the council had not yet received any applications for a permit for the Ahern Road site and all concerns would be taken into consideration, as with any application, if one were to be received.
The suspected property owner, Community Housing Limited, did not return calls made by the News.