A community on the beaches of northern Sydney is getting a facelift, but it has a high price for locals.
French forest residents are being evicted from their homes to make way for new developments, leaving many angry, saying they have been caught by surprise.
About 30 families will have all or part of their properties demolished for the new town of Frenchs Forest.
Sydney’s “devastated” homeowners will be evicted by new city center (new)
Resident Fanette Robinson said she was disappointed.
Five months ago he only bought his first home on Grace Avenue and now has a major road in the front yard.
He said the road would be two meters from his son’s room and he did not expect money to lose the value of the house, only the value of the land.
Resident Fanette Robinson said she was disappointed. (new)
“The lawyer did his due diligence, to look at everything for us, and saw nothing,” he said.
“Otherwise, to be honest, we would never have bought here.”
Homeowners have not been given a timeline on when their land will be acquired and how much compensation they can expect.
Another resident, Gail MacDonald, said she was “devastated.”
Gail MacDonald said she was “devastated.” (new)
“Everything I’ve done on this site allows me to age here, now they’re destroying it,” he said.
The state government and Northern Beaches Council said they were preparing for a population boom in Frenchs Forest.
“In this area we will get an additional 2,000 homes, homes, in the coming years,” said Councilor José Menano-Pires.
“And obviously as the population grows, so does the infrastructure.”