Bondi residents hit out at council’s 1am function, private event plans for Waverley Park

A council plan to permanently allow functions, weddings and networking events at a popular eastern suburbs park has sparked furore among residents. See what it means for events

The community room is located at Waverley Park.

A council plan to permanently allow functions, weddings and networking events at a popular inner city park has sparked furore among residents in Waverley with fears they will be hit with a triple whammy of noise, traffic and anti-social impacts.

Waverley Council is facing calls to withdraw a contentious plan to allow events as late as 1am at the Margaret Whitlam Recreation Centre community room, located at Waverley Park, due to concerns it could cause unacceptable disturbance impacts on surrounding homes.

The council’s plan would allow the existing community room to be booked out for private functions and events, including with amplified music, as late as 1am on Mondays to Saturdays and midnight on Sundays.

According to the plans, the events could include private yoga classes, photo shoots, book launches, team building events, and weddings with a capacity for up to 120 people

The proposal has sparked significant backlash among residents with many writing to the council to call for the plan to be withdrawn.

Resident Bill Mouroukas, who co-chairs a local Bondi precinct community group, said the impacts on residents would be “severe”.

“Having loud music until 1am with 120 people leaving with noise that could be alcohol driven will have a big impact on the community,” he said.

“All those crowds will be spilling out through the park and onto surrounding streets and that will bring additional traffic as well as noise.”

The space would be able to be booked out for events including weddings.

According to the council’s plans, the proposal would formalise the use of the community room which can currently be booked out for events no later than midnight.

The council says the proposal would provide the public “with an affordable location for events’’.

But some residents argue there are already disturbance impacts from the current use of the venue.

Resident Bill Mouroukas is concerned about the impacts on nearby homes.

“The noise is in excess of acceptable levels and the proposed times during which music is permitted are way too late for such a residential area,” resident Gregory Morris wrote in a submission to the council.

“Council should … protect the tenants and landowners of the area rather than trying to generate more revenue through permitting unacceptable levels of noise.”

The council has proposed a plan of management to address potential impacts on neighbours including noise mitigation measures.

The community room is located near homes on Bondi Road.

A photo of the community room.

In a statement, a council spokeswoman said the council “has no intention of allowing events to run beyond the current hours of operation.”

“This means that the level of activity at the venue and impact on parking or traffic will remain unchanged,” she said.

“Regarding revenue, the venue hire fee is modest as the facility is offered as an affordable venue for community use. There are no expectations for increased activity or revenue resulting from this DA.”

Mr Mouroukas said the council’s plans for the community room had come at a surprise for local community groups and councillors who he said were not consulted on the proposal.

He said the development approval of the community room by the council in 2009 also contained “no mention” of late night activity.

“All the open spaces in Waverley Park are steadily being commercialised for private use such as exercise groups – in my view it’s about the council raising money,” he said.

“I understand council officers are looking at how council resources can be best used for the community but that doesn’t mean you have to negatively impact the community for dollars.”

The Bondi Heights Precinct Committee group – in a submission to the council – said the site has a history of causing impacts on residents including events with noisy “drums, brass instruments and chanting”.

The submission states the council’s plans lack detail about potential negative impacts on other areas in the park and the “acoustic reflection or echoes that occur between buildings.”

The plans are currently under assessment and are due to be determined by the Waverley Council Local Planning Panel.