Matthews Group gets approval to begin rezoning around Gilberton Buckingham Arms site

A nearly 200-year-old pub’s “heritage fabric” would survive a multistorey conversion, the family that owns it says, but first rules need to change.

One of the state’s largest family-owned hotel operators has reignited a push to replace a historic pub with a multistorey residential and commercial development.

The Matthews Group is seeking to rezone a 6200 sqm wedge-shaped Gilberton block, comprising the local heritage listed 1840s Buckingham Arms Hotel, to allow for “medium-density” development of up to six storeys or potentially higher.

It comes months nearly a year after the group abandoned an earlier rezoning bid in August when Walkerville Council pulled its support citing height and building setback concerns.

But the company suggests that council administration had given initial support for another rezoning bid for the land at the intersection of Walkerville Tce and Nottage Tce.

The Buckingham Arms site is limited to maximum height of three-storeys under the planning and design code, which replaced all council development plans in March.

The Matthews family want to replace the Buckingham Arms Hotel at Gilberton with housing.

Under the code property owners can initiate their own rezoning process and amendments to zoning rules if approved by Planning Minister Vickie Chapman.

Ms Chapman approved the Matthews Group’s rezoning request in July 1 and the final sign-off on any rezoning will rest with her and Parliament’s Environment Resources and Development Committee.

In a copy of a rezoning proposal the company argues the current planning controls on residential development are “restrictive and unnecessary”.

“Despite its strategic location, the local activity centre zone only seeks shops, officers, business, health and community facilities that are small in scale,” it says.

“The (current zone) contains a maximum building height of three levels which places a significant and unwarranted constraint on development that does not reflect the strategic ‘gateway’ location of the site.”

The report says there is it is possible to retain the “heritage fabric” of the hotel while allowing for a “substantial redevelopment” on the site.

The Matthews Group want zoning changed to allow:

RESIDENTIAL density in the order of 35-70 dwellings per hectare

MAXIMUM building heights of five to six levels;

AN ‘incentive’ policy to allow taller buildings where the development delivers “specified and measurable performance outcomes”.

NO minimum setbacks from Northcote Tce, Walkerville Tce and Robe Tce to “encourage activation of the streetscape.”

A map showing the boundary of the proposed area (orange) sought for rezoning, including the Buckingham Arms, and the current zoning classifications. Source: Matthews Group.

The council’s planning manager Andreea Caddy wrote to the Matthews Group advising it supported the “intent” to rezone the land.

“Council emphasises that this willingness to engage is not a form of advocacy for this specific rezoning,” she said in a May letter, attached to the code amendment submission.

Any rezoning proposal will go to public consultation and could take up to 18 months to complete.

The Matthews Group operates 10 venues including the Feathers Hotel, Salisbury Hotel, the Maylands Hotel and Mount Gambier Hotel.

The Buckingham Arms opened for business around 1846 and is renowned for its smorgasbord introduced by Seymoure Matthews in 1955.

Originally published as Matthews Group gets approval to begin rezoning around Gilberton Buckingham Arms site