Blue Mountains: HD Squared Developments challenges building refusal
An Environment Commissioner is blocking time out in her diary to head up to the Blue Mountains to inspect the site of a controversial apartment building.
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An Environment Commissioner is blocking time out in her diary to head up to the Blue Mountains to inspect the site of a controversial apartment building.
On Tuesday, NSW Land and Environment Court Commissioner, Danielle Dickson, will visit 43-51 Great Western Highway, Leura, where a developer wants to build a hotly-disputed 24-unit residential development.
The onsite court proceedings will then reconvene at the Blue Mountains Council chambers.
HD Squared Developments Pty Ltd appealed to the Land and Environment Court in June 2018 over the deemed refusal of its original development application by Blue Mountains Council.
Consent for this DA was rejected by the Blue Mountains Local Planning Panel on August 19.
Reasons included excessive building heights (the proposal contravened limits set by the Blue Mountains Local Environmental Plan 2015 by more than 10 per cent), overdevelopment of the site, and being out of character for the area.
The developer is asking the court to consider a revised plan.
A major difference from the original plans is that instead of three separate buildings, a single three-storey building is proposed.
“The proposed amended plans provide for a greater diversity of medium density accommodation, which is likely to be more affordable than detached dwellings,” an amended statement of environmental effects says.
It is for 24 units about 220 metres from Leura train station and Leura town centre on a site that was previously surplus land after Roads and Maritime Services completed work along the highway.
The amended statement of environmental effects show the proposed building as having a single one-bedroom apartment, 21 ‘bed plus study’ apartments, and 21 two-bedroom apartments.
The below-ground car park has 24 car spaces for residents, including seven accessible ones; five visitor car spaces; three motorcycle spaces; and undercover storage for 22 bicycles.
“The building is designed to present as a mountain style of architecture based on a traditional guesthouse of the Leura township,” according to the statement, by Urban Perspectives.
The amended proposal is consistent with the zone objectives of the Blue Mountains LEP 2015 and in the public interest, as it will assist the council in providing “much-needed alternative housing for changing household types and sizes in the area” including the growing ageing population, the statement says.
The statement says it also provides accommodation opportunities for students of the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School and takes into account the state government’s State Environmental Planning Policy No. 65 which aims to improve apartment designs in NSW.
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment’s Blue Mountains population projections:
- Population to increase by 4750 people between 2016 and 2041, from 78,850 to 83,600 people.
- Working age population (ages 15-64) to decrease from 49,250 people in 2016 to 46,350 in 2041.
- Kids aged 14 and under to decline from 14,750 in 2016 to 12,450 in 2041.
- People aged 65 and over to increase from 14,800 in 2016 to 24,800 by 2041.