Owners of land needed for park refusing to sell

Cumberland Council has begun proceedings to forcibly resume a majority of the properties on Karrabah Road backing onto the Park after they were unable to reach agreement with the home owners to sell up voluntarily.
FOUR properties on Karrabah Road are set to be compulsorily purchased as part of a move to expand Auburn park with one long-time home owner telling the Review that Cumberland Council hasn’t offered home owners enough money.
Living in the street for more than 26 years, one resident, who did not want to be identified, said they had built a new five-bedroom home on the site just 10 years ago and wouldn’t be able to find a similar property in the area for what they’d been offered.
“I can’t buy another home like this for (the council’s) offer, not near the park, near trains, near the school,” she said.
“I know I have to sell but where can I find a home like this? The money is no good.”
A tenant at another property who has been living in the street for six years, said she had been told by her landlord they that would have to move a couple of months ago, but they’d been lucky and had already found another rental property.
Negotiations to buy the homes began in February last year after Cumberland received $8.9 million in grant funding under the Parramatta Road Urban Amenity Improvement Program from the Greater Sydney Commission to purchase seven properties which back onto the park.
A report tabled at Wednesday’s council meeting noted that while the owners of 43, 51 and 53 Karrabah Road had agreed to sell, extensive negotiations had failed to secure the purchase of 45, 47, 49 and 55.
Accepting the report’s recommendation, councillors resolved to apply to the Office of Local Government (OLG) for compulsory acquisition approval. The council has also requested ministerial approval for additional $650,000 in funding for the land acquisition project.