WHEN Fraser’s Landing residents bought into their hamlet properties, they also bought into a vision where they lived with a strong connection to the environment.
Council’s preliminary decision to alter developers Frasers Mandurah Pty Ltd’s original outline development plan last week has left residents feeling the vision was compromised.
Let down by the system, residents were advised to take civil action – an option which is financially out of reach.
“We were shown a brochure of what was going to happen and what was going was going to be here,” resident Tania Stewart said.
“Now what’s going to happen? All that is going to change.”
“When we bought here, it seemed like it was too good to be true – that’s how fantastic it was,” resident Kaye Evans added. “Now it has ended up like that.”
Residents moved in with unlandscaped communal areas and took it upon themselves to create a welcoming outdoor area to cultivate the community living atmosphere which was promised in marketing brochures. The residents said they feared the atmosphere would be lost if freehold lots were introduced, as the alternative plan states.
“This community was created in spite of Frasers not because of them,” resident Gordon Freeman. “It was a mess when we got here but we planted two and half thousand plants here and created an area where we now have Saturday afternoon drinks together and functions.”
Guy Pahor presented Frasers Mandurah’s new changes on April 22 where he told council it was due to the inability to sell remaining lots due to a “shift” in the market.
When asked by councillor Darren Lee whether a boost in sales would influence the developers to reconsider their changes Mr Pahor said it would be “highly unlikely”.
“We just want to get on with it and develop it and finish the project,” he said.
Mandurah MLA David Templeman said the new changes would significantly erode the vision which Fraser’s Landing residents bought into.
“I find it remarkable that the inclusion of freehold lots rather than survey strata are not considered to be material planning consideration,” he said. “This element is a major deviation from the original concept.”
Mr Templeman will present a draft alternate ODP and a few of the residents will present deputations at next week’s Council meeting.
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