Holdfast Bay Councillor calls out Glenelg’s Buffalo restaurant site as decision on renovation approval is still to be granted
IT’S been almost two years since a bid to renovate Glenelg’s Buffalo restaurant site — now “green and scungy” — was lodged. A decision is expected in January. Why’s it taken so long?
A DECISION on whether to allow renovations to Glenelg’s Buffalo restaurant will be made in January, almost two years after the application was lodged.
And the project cannot come soon enough for one Holdfast Bay councillor, who says the site is “green and scungy and looks terrible”.
The Development Assessment Commission (DAC) will decide on owner Troy DeYoung’s application for an outdoor bar and alfresco dining area, as well as a kiosk, deck and dock on the Patawalonga River, on January 19.
Mr DeYoung said he was looking forward to a “positive outcome”.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what the outcome is and hopefully move forward from it,” Mr DeYoung said.
At a meeting last month, Holdfast Bay councillor Sam Charlick complained about the “pretty sad state” of the Buffalo.
“It stinks and there’s a fair bit of rubbish there,” Cr Charlick said.
“It’s green and scungy and looks terrible.”
Rubbish floating in the gap between the Buffalo and the shore last week included an outdoor table-and-chairs setting, drink bottles and a beach ball.
Council chief executive Justin Lynch said it was Mr DeYoung’s responsibility to keep the area clean.
“We’ve been putting on some pressure,” Mr Lynch said.
Mr DeYoung said windy weather kept blowing rubbish into the moat around the boat.
“It’s an ongoing thing,” he said.
Mr DeYoung lodged his application with the DAC in March 2015.
A DAC spokeswoman said the delay in a decision on the $1 million project was because it had been “awaiting the provision of further details and plans by the applicant”.
Mr DeYoung said the DAC was also to blame because it took two to three months to get back to him each time with more questions.
He bought the 30-year-old replica concrete vessel, displayed next to Wigley Reserve in Glenelg North, for $1 from Richard Finlayson in February 2014.
If approved, he expected work to start within six months and finish in time for next summer.
He leases its footprint from the council for an undisclosed sum.
Stage one of the project — a carpark — was completed in October last year.
A new public toilet next to the carpark will open later this month.
The original HMS Buffalobrought the first colonists to South Australia in 1836. It was wrecked in New Zealand in 1840.