Oakville resident Jim Cassidy has been waiting since 1962 to develop land he bought In Perth Street at Vineyard.
But at 85, he might not be able to wait until the state government allows the land to be released as building blocks.
After meeting with Mr Cassidy last Friday, February 17, Riverstone MP Kevin Conolly said the blocks were in Part C of the Riverstone ‘scheduled lands’ and were not likely to be developed “for another four to six years”, though he made it clear that was merely an estimate based on the rate of progress with development of parts A and B.
Part A has just been developed, with Part B next, and C after that.
Mr Cassidy, who has been trying to develop his land for decades, is cynical however. “I’ll believe it when it happens,” he said.
He is livid that blocks at nearby Rouse Hill are selling for $1000 a square metre but until streetlights, electricity, roads and sewerage are put in, he could only sell his for a song – not as a building block.
“My in-laws bought five acres in 1968 at Kellyville Ridge and sold the block for $79,000 11 years later. Then in 2012 the block was subdivided into 500m2 blocks which sold for $245,000 each (yielding $7.2m).”
A spokesperson for the state government said it was possible if all the landowners in the block that Mr Cassidy had land got together and paid for the services and roads themselves they could then sell their blocks as residential land, however this sort of organisation would be beyond most landowners.
Mr Cassidy has assembled large amounts of correspondence with government agencies over the years in his battle to be able to develop his lands, including a letter from Bob Carr to the Riverstone MP of the day in 1987.
The MP, Mr Amery, had enquired when Riverstone and Vineyard landowners could expect their bush blocks to get services.
“As you are aware, the main issue is the cost and timing of servicing the land,” Mr Carr wrote back. “The draft Rouse Hill Development Area plan envisages development beginning in the south of the area and progressing northwards to Riverstone and Vineyard.
“To develop Riverstone out of sequence would require the Water Board to spend additional funds on infrastructure before development could take place and before any contributions could be obtained from developers.”
Three decades on, Mr Cassidy is still waiting. The Vineyard, Riverstone, Marsden Park Developments Incorporation, a landowners’ action group formed to try to get the land released, has dwindled away.
“They’ve all died!” Mr Cassidy said, only partly joking.
