Bundaleer St, Belrose: Boarding house expansion bid could lead to 117 lodgers in semirural area
Plans have emerged for two more unit blocks to join a boarding house compound in a semirural part of the northern beaches – bringing the potential number of lodgers to 117.
Manly
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Plans have emerged for a $8.75m mega-boarding house redevelopment on the northern beaches, made up of two separate unit blocks with 45 single rooms.
The two-storey buildings would be next to an existing block that can accommodate 72 lodgers and opened on a 1.6ha site at Belrose in 2017.
A Chatswood-based property construction business, Vigor Master, lodged the development application, on behalf of the land owner, with Northern Beaches Council in late September.
It had previously sought planning permission, in August 2021, for just one 31-room boarding house on the block in Bundaleer St, but that application was refused in June 2022.
In an assessment report to the independent Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel, council officers had recommended that it be refused because it was a “gross overdevelopment” of the semirural site.
If the fresh proposal goes ahead, there could be up to 117 residents on the site.
Neighbouring residents and community groups, including the Belrose Rural Community Association and Garigal Landcare, agreed with the council’s assessment that the first development application should be rejected.
Nearby resident Ron Patton told a meeting of the planning panel that several locals ”strongly” objected to a second large boarding house on the same site.
“The existing boarding house is an example of development that is unsuitable for this area,” Mr Patton said.
“We do not want a repeat of this type of development … it will exceed the housing density controls.”
Belrose Rural Community Association president Conny Harris, who also runs the Garigal Landcare group, told the panel bushland on the site was used as a “wildlife corridor” by native animals.
And in a written submission Dr Harris stated that the bulk and scale of the property, opposite the Covenant Christian School, was larger than other residential dwellings in the area as well as being “out of character” with neighbouring properties.
On its website Vigor Master promotes the existing “studio apartments” in Bundaleer St as being “within a lush bushland” setting that “sits upon an expansive 1.64 hectares”.
“Residents enjoy the combination of a natural escape and all the comforts expected of modern homes,’’ it states.
Documents lodged with the application reveal one of the two proposed boarding houses would have 28 single rooms with a “communal living, dining, kitchen, laundry and toilet provided on each level”. The second building has 17 rooms.
“All boarding rooms include a kitchenette and bathroom with most rooms having private balconies,” according to the statement of environmental effects.
There would be a basement parking for 30 cars.
Vigor master was contacted for comment.
Submissions to the council on the current application can be made here until October 18.
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