The Land and Environment Court has granted development consent to an amended development application for a site in Umina Beach.
The consent allows for the partial demolition of the existing structures at 1 and 3 Alfred St, Umina Beach and the construction of a five storey mixed-use building containing shop top housing, commercial premises and basement parking.
The existing chemist located on 315 West Street will remain.
The proposal had been rejected by the Local Planning Panel.
The Court arranged a conciliation conference held between Council and the applicant on May 1.
“At the conciliation, the parties reached agreement as to the terms of a decision in the proceedings that would be acceptable to them. The agreement was based on an amended application,” court documents published on July 11 state.
The height of the amended proposal does not comply with guidelines for development located on the B2 Local Centre Zone.
“The shade structure to rooftop communal open space, the fire stairs and accessible bathroom located in the communal open space, a portion of the balustrading to the communal open space, and also the lift overrun to the communal open space exceed the maximum height standard of 14.25m,” the judgement states.
“The maximum exceedance is the lift overrun that exceeds the maximum height standard by 2.75m.”
The judgement states that the proposal reduces the height that would otherwise be permitted by the standard to West Street to achieve a better urban design outcome by a transition to the recently approved development at 323-325 West Street.
“That transition is achieved by including some bulk to West Street and concentrating the balance of the bulk in the centre of the land where impacts can be managed and there is no impact to the streetscape,” the judgement states.
“The addition of the bulk to the top of the existing (and to be retained) chemist building will provide an ability for the land at the corner of West Street and Alfred Street to achieve the intended height standard if it chooses to.”
The proposal includes a pathway which is intended to be open to the public and will connect with 323-325 West Street.
“By providing public access (which is also now used to access the shop top housing) the applicants have lost an opportunity to realise commercial floor space in that area at ground level,” the judgement states.
“The slight height breach allows for redistribution of that bulk to achieve the permitted floor space ratio and the streetscape outcome to West Street.
“The breach also permits high quality communal outdoor space to be provided which will have far greater amenity than ground floor open space which presents generally to the back of house area development in West Street,” the judgement said.
The amended plans were lodged with the court and uploaded to the State Planning Portal on June 20.
See another Land and Environment Court decision, on a child care centre at Blackwall here: https://www.cccouncilwatch.com.au/blackwall-child-care…/
