Toukley: Unapproved boarding house to be knocked down, rebuilt

There are new plans to knock down an unapproved boarding house that was operating out of a former funeral home at Toukley and rebuild it as a mixed use shop-top boarding house.

An unapproved boarding house will be knocked down and rebuilt as a two-storey shop-top boarding house with 12 units under new plans lodged with Central Coast Council.

The former Southern Cross Funeral Directors home had been converted into an eight suite boarding house without approval.

When council told the owner they could not operate it as a boarding house they lodged a development (DA) application to get it approved.

However when this DA was knocked back last year the owner lodged a new DA to knock the existing building down and build a two-storey shop-top boarding house in its place.

Under the new plans there would be two shops and two boarding house units on the ground floor and 10 units on the top floor on the 487.8sq m site at 362 Main Rd.

Each shop would have its own street entry, kitchenette and two carparking spaces at the rear of the property accessed by Bucks Lane.

There would also be a central entry into the building which will serve as the main access from the street frontage.

Each of the downstairs boarding house units would have its own ensuite bathroom, laundry cupboard and kitchen, with access to a common lounge area and communal outdoor area.

Former site of Southern Cross Funerals at 362 Main Rd, Toukley had been operating as a boarding house without council approval. The owner has since lodged a DA. (AAP IMAGE / Troy Snook)

The upstairs units would be similarly equipped along with two stairwells for access to a central lobby area.

Of the seven carparking spaces, four are allocated to the shops, two for the boarding house and one as a shared/manager space.

The building will feature exterior concrete wall panels on the ground floor and lightweight weatherboard cladding for the first floor.

“The current unauthorised boarding house doesn’t have any communal facilities, as each suite has their own facilities,” the DA states.

“It is the intent of this application to provide a communal lounge, a communal covered deck area and covered courtyard.

“The proposal is considered to have no detrimental social or economic impact on the locality, if anything it stands to improve the social and economic outcomes by providing a broader social interaction and increased local retail trade within the vicinity.”

The DA seeks to knock down the old funeral home and build a two-storey shop-top boarding house. (AAP IMAGE / Troy Snook)

However a community feedback survey conducted as part of its social impact assessment raised fears the proposal would increase anti-social behaviour and crime in the area, increase congestion on the main road and concerns about its proximity to Toukley Public School 500m away.

The owner was contacted for a response.

NEW APPLICATION FOR PEEL ST BOARDING HOUSE

It comes after another DA has been lodged for the controversial bid to convert a former nursing home into a large boarding house at Peel St, just 1.3km away.

An initial DA to convert the vacant, derelict three-storey building into a 64-room boarding house was rejected by the Local Planning Panel last year after attracting 120 objections with local residents concerned about increased traffic, the development being out of character and safety for neighbours.

A DA has been lodged to convert a nursing home at Peel St in Toukley to a 54-room boarding house. Picture: supplied

The applicant, Charles Ahadizadeh, has lodged another application for the 3,616sq m site, overlooking Osbourne Park and Budgewoi Lake, with the number of rooms reduced from 64 to 54.

The new DA also increases the number of communal rooms from one to four and proposes to plant 61 trees instead of just 19.

The 32 car spaces, 13 bicycle spaces and 13 motorbike spaces remains unchanged.