Belrose library site: Go ahead for $44m apartment block and shops
A court has made a decision on revised plans for a controversial $44m bid to redevelop the community eyesore that is the abandoned old Belrose library.
Manly
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A controversial $44 million redevelopment of a dilapidated former suburban Sydney public library site has finally been given the go-ahead.
Revised plans were consented to by the Land and Environment Court after a previous bid to build the “shop top” project, which included 51 apartments, on the abandoned Belrose Library block was thrown out by planning authorities.
Northern Beaches Council sold the 5,332 sqm block to a developer in 2017 to help raise money for a more modern library nearby as well as funding a revamped Glen Street Theatre.
Since then the site at the corner of Lockwood Ave and Glen St had become a community eyesore. The old library building nearly burned down in November 2020.
In November independent NSW Government planners — the Sydney North Planning Panel — rejected the four-storey proposal, which included, shops, eateries, a gym and a car wash because it was found to be a “substantial overdevelopment of the site”.
The planning panel also told the developer, Platinum Property Advisers, that its “Belrose Village Square” development was out of character with the neighbourhood.
It said that the shop top housing failed to demonstrate “design quality” in relation to visual privacy, apartment size and layout, parking, ceiling heights, landscaping and energy efficiency.
The developer also wanted to raise the height of the building, described in marketing material as including “high end” terrace housing, more than three metres above the current permissible height level.
Community opposition to the previous plans was substantial. The panel said of the 134 written submissions received by Northern Beaches Council, 114 were opposed to the development application.
Platinum property lodged an appeal in the Land and Environment Court.
It submitted revised plans which included reducing the number of apartments from 51 to 49.
Other amendments included a drop in height from 12.359m to 12.2m; removal of the gym and; increasing car spaces from 190 to 238.
The consultant’s report stated that the designs would allow for “the majority of the proposal (to be) perceived as (height) compliant from adjoining streets and neighbouring properties” and that the bulk of the height noncompliance would face the neighbouring Glenrose Shopping Village.
The plans still include a “generous and active public square, central to the site”.
Northern Beaches Council, which recommended that the original DA be knocked back, said on Tuesday that it accepted the court’s decision.
CEO Ray Brownlee said the council was satisfied that the amended plans submitted by the applicant during the court process addressed issues that the council had identified with the original scheme.
“We will not be appealing against the consent orders made by the court,” Mr Brownlee said.
The Manly Daily has contacted Platinum Property Advisors, based in the Sydney CBD,
for comment.
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