ONE of Wagga’s leading property developers has a message for those who oppose high density housing – you are in the minority.
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Matt Jenkins – the developer behind the multi-unit Kincaid Street project – was last year in the eye of a people power storm when residents arched up over his "invasive” development.
A group of nearby residents complained about a loss of privacy, noise and an apparent lack of council consultation.
But block by block Mr Jenkins said the city would gradually benefit from compact housing.
“It seems to be the small minority that complain about these sorts of projects,” he said.
“It’s certainly not the feeling of the whole community.”
It comes as census data shows a slow increase in the percentage of units, villas and townhouses in the CBD over the past decade.
Spurred on by zoning laws that enforce high density housing in certain parts of the city, planners believe there is a shift towards a “cosmopolitan” style of living seen in major Australian cities.
“The benefit for the community with high density is in that if you keep building new houses further out of the city, the longer the commute time becomes,” Mr Jenkins said.
“It also opens up another market for younger homeowners and retirees that don’t want the yard.”
However, Greens’ city councillor Kevin Poynter has warned against rubber stamping every high density development and said the “complex issue” needed a cautious approach.
“We can’t keep expanding out further and further but at the same time, we need to think very carefully about issues such as impacts on the streetscape and community,” he said. “If you look at Sydney and Melbourne the houses might be millimetres apart from one another and yet the neighbours have no relationship.”
Mr Jenkins also said he believed there was too much red tape hampering development in the city centre, with a “conflicting" overlay of state and local government legislation.
He said Wagga needed to realise the full potential of high density development, with prime lots in the city set to “disappear” over coming decades.