North Manly: Boarding house to be built next to childcare centre

Planning authorities on the northern beaches have made a decision on a proposal for a boarding house next to a child care centre.

A boarding house with so-called “lodger rooms” has been given the go-ahead to be built next door to a child care centre on the northern beaches.

The development application for the 10-room facility at North Manly has been approved by the independent Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel.

This is despite the neighbouring Playhouse Learning Center, a long daycare business that looks after 20 children — and 17 other nearby property owners — opposing the DA.

An artist's impression of the proposed 10-room boarding house on Pittwater Rd at North Manly that was given the go ahead by the Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel. Picture: Supplied

The $900,000 boarding house site on Pittwater Rd can house up to 20 people in the 10 double-rooms.

Under planning rules, local planning panels, rather than the council, make decisions on developments that are deemed contentious or have received 10 or more public submissions opposed to a DA.

The panel’s approval of the North Manly facility came on the same day it knocked back a DA for a $4.5 million 26-room boarding house at Dee Why.

It agreed with a council assessment report that the five-storey building on Pacific Pde was an “overdevelopment” of the existing site.

An artist's impression of a proposed 26-room boarding house on Pacific Pde at Dee Why that was rejected by the Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel because it deemed it to be an overdevelopment of the site. Picture: Supplied

In a letter to the council, along with a petition signed by 13 parents, the North Manly child care centre management said it strongly objected to the boarding house being built next door.

“Boarding houses offer cheap accommodation for residents and little responsibility for them towards the neighbours of the premises,” the letter said.

It also had concerns that boarding house residents would use the centre’s car park, leaving nowhere for parents to drop of children.

Other local objectors wrote that they had concerns with “transient people living right next door to a childminding centre”.

An artist's impression of a proposed 10-room boarding house on Pittwater Rd at North Manly. Up to 20 people could be accommodated. Picture: Supplied

“This is an inappropriate combination of developments,” one submission stated.

“It would be highly unlikely that there would be any screening of people residing at the boarding house and such screening would not be within the purview of Council,” another wrote.

“I am certainly not making a general reflection on the character of people that live in

boarding houses. Sadly, however we should all be aware of the risks to children and the

undesirability of having a boarding house, with potentially many guests including transitory

guests, next to and overlooking a facility that cares for very young children.”

Northern Beaches council officers recommended the panel give the DA its approval.

Their assessment report stated that the boarding house would require residents to take out a minimum three-month lease.

The proposed 10-room boarding house at North Manly would have a live-in manager to police “house rules”. Picture: Supplied

The boarding house would also have a live-in building manager who would police “house rules” on issues such as the use of alcohol, smoking and noisy activities.

“The issue of transient occupancy, including tenant management of social issues such as noise or undesirable tenant behaviour, and the like, is … addressed by the Plan Of Management and does not warrant refusal of the application,” the assessment report found.

The DA for the Dee Why boarding house attracted 51 public submissions opposed to the plan, which raised concerns ranging from the density of the development, traffic and parking, privacy and noise impacts, overshadowing as well as security and safety issues.

An artist's impression of a proposed 26-room boarding house on Pacific Pde at Dee Why. Picture: Supplied

Council officials said the northern beaches-based developer, who operates a company called SixC that rents out furnished “micro-apartments”, did not provide enough parking; rooms and common areas did not receive enough sunlight and the development would produce too much noise.

The Manly Daily has left messages, through their architects, for the developers of both boarding houses.