'They lied to us': Bulldozers roll in at Chapman public housing block

While some residents had been considering appealing the tribunal's decision to allow the 20-unit public housing development in the ACT Supreme Court, the government may have thwarted their prospects, with construction now under way.

Residents have also alleged they were misled about the government's intentions for the site, particularly in relation to plans to subdivide the land - originally zoned for community facilities - to sell part of the block to house people with disabilities.

A raft of residents had appealed the government's decision to approve the development on several grounds, including that it was in a bushfire abatement zone and there was no formal lease over the land to allow it to be built on.

Residents had lodged four separate appeals against various parts of the proposal, which were combined into a single case, but on a series of technicalities, the tribunal excluded several issues as outside its remit.

In the final decision in August this year, the tribunal ultimately sided with the government and rejected residents' appeals.

But it has not yet published its reasons for the decision, and in the meantime the territory government has started construction and the 28-day period for lodging an appeal has lapsed.

The government's rationale is expected to be published later this month, the tribunal has confirmed, but it is understood residents were waiting for the release of that rationale before deciding whether or not to appeal the decision.

Darwinia Park Residents Group's Simone Hunter said the entire community in the area had been waiting for those reasons.

"What’s distressing to residents is the ACT government hasn’t allowed us to go through that process. Instead of waiting for those reasons, it’s turned up with bulldozers," she said.

"The whole process has been stacked against us from the very beginning. Why [can't] they just sit down at a table with a community group and try to find an appropriate solution?"

Ms Hunter said the community had suggested other sites in the area, including one former Mr Fluffy block about 700 metres down the road which was not on the edge of the suburb and closer to amenities. But she said the government had ignored such proposals.

Residents also said they were misled about a planned direct sale of part of the block to Hartley Life Care, as well as the scope of the plans.

“The government presented us with plans that they never intended to go through with. They had been in discussion with regards to subdividing the block and negotiating a direct sale for months prior to the public dissemination of the 30-house plan," she said.

"They lied to us in 2017, even in the consultancy, they said they would leave bottom of block alone."

The release of the northern section of the block to them was conditionally approved this February, although public housing renewal taskforce meeting minutes released under freedom of information laws show discussions about the direct sale had been ongoing since at least January 2017.

The disability organisation plans to build a four-bedroom house for three people with disabilities and their support staff on the site, and is in the process of lodging a development application, though the sale was subject to development approval.

While the government had made some changes to the public housing proposal, including cutting the number of dwellings from 30 to 20 dwellings and ensuring it would meet higher bushfire protection standards, Ms Hunter said the process had left a bad taste in the community's mouth.

A public housing taskforce spokeswoman said the government had been open and transparent throughout consultations, including six meetings with residents over several months last year.

But she did not directly refute the claim the government failed to inform residents in 2017 about the planned sale of part of the land, instead saying the taskforce had had no involvement in that process, though it understood what was proposed on the site.