A boarding house set for Church street, Maitland has been refused citing over development of site
A 28 room boarding house development application set for Church street, Maitland was voted down by Maitland councillors on Tuesday night, citing overdevelopment of the site.
Newcastle
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A boarding house proposal in the CBD of Maitland has been labelled an absolute ‘monstrosity’ in one of the last heritage conservation areas in town.
Despite being set for approval at Maitland Council’s meeting, a 28-room boarding house development application for Church St, Maitland was voted down by councillors on Tuesday night.
All councillors except Cr. Mike Yarrington voted to oppose the development, which would provide accommodation for low and moderate income working singles and couples, adjacent the Caledonian Hotel and not far from the Grand Junction Hotel.
Local resident of 25 years Bob Dennerley said it’s a dense development in the wrong area.
“Trying to put an enormous amount of rooms into one spot, possibly lend it to something better than that,” Mr Dennerley said.
“The boarding house is, apart from being in a conservation zone, is right on the doorstep of three lots of alcohol. It’s a trifecta of alcohol.
“You’ve got to allow for lower socio-economic accommodation, of course you do, I lived rough myself once many years ago, but it’s a recipe for disaster, it truly is.”
The application saw numerous opposition, which also included overdevelopment of the site, impacts of traffic and carparking, privacy and solar access concerns, waste pick-up and storage problems, impacts on the quality of life for existing residents as well as safety concerns related to uncertainty over likely tenants.
The proposal was seeking approval for 28 self-contained rooms, six of which could accommodate up to two residents with the remaining designed as single rooms, while 18 rooms had private balcony areas.
The development included associated carparking, bicycle and motorbike parking, landscaping and communal open space areas.
An on-site Manager’s residence was also proposed as part of the development and set to be located at ground level with a separate private open space allocation and a single carparking space.
Currently vacant, the site is being used for carparking for the Caledonian Hotel and while not listed as an individual item of heritage significance, it comes under the Maitland Local Environmental Plan 2011, located within the Church Street Precinct in the Central Maitland Heritage Conservation Area.
Cr Phillip Penfold agreed it was an overdevelopment of the site.
“This Boarding house state planning policy may well suit certain parts of Sydney, though are out of place in regional centre like Maitland.
He’ll be moving a motion at the next council meeting to seek changes to the state planning policy as it applies to regional areas like Maitland, and to investigate what can be done locally to strengthen refusal resolutions in the short term.
The application before Council, stated the development would not impact heritage buildings in the area or upon heritage items and would integrate with existing developments.
It said the development would have only a minor impact on the Caledonain Hotel, and is not expected to result in any significant impacts to the natural and built environment, or detrimental social or economic impacts.
Attempts were made to contact the Caledonian Hotel.