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Glebe Society

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Harold Park Hotel, 115 Wigram Road

This hotel closed more than five years ago. Now there is a proposal to revive it. The thirty units to be built next door are the result of a separate application. The proposed hours of operation are from 11am to 11pm Monday to Thursday and Sunday, and from 11am to 12 midnight, Friday and Saturday. The proposed density is 0.5 above the business standard of 1.5:1, and there are only four parking spaces. This is one of the first applications to be presented in digital format, a requirement introduced on 1 July, so you can inspect the plans and documents on the City Council's website.

Other development

Downturns in housing approvals and higher interest rates may be a problem for property investors, but they are usually good news for Glebe. Nevertheless, developer pressure never seems to quite go away. I have written six objections in the last week, but most are for trivial things that really shouldn't have got to this stage. Two proposals, one by Australand for the bottom of Forsyth Street, and the other for a mixed development at 11 Ross Street, are more than just irritating however. Both are well over the normal residential density, and attempt to use various ploys to justify overdevelopment. They are examples, even if relatively small ones, of the persistence of development pressure and its potentially destructive impact.

Foreshore Parklands

The City has updated the information boards in Jubilee and Blackwattle Parks. Many of the issues that concern members are mentioned, so it is well worth extending your recreational stroll for a few minutes to read about fig trees, mangroves, the Anchorage site, Bellevue, the Incinerator et al. Further community consultation took place on 19 and 26 July in Glebe Town Hall.

BASIX

The subcommittee has so far been unable to secure a speaker (or writer) to tell us about this innovative program to increase sustainability by conserving power and water. Probably the best solution is to refer members to the website, www.basix.nsw.gov.au, and to the pamphlets available from Glebe Town Hall (or any other Council office). From 1 July the requirements apply to all new dwellings in NSW and from 1 October to renovations as well as new dwellings.

- Neil Macindoe

Late News . .

Tramsheds: The Central Sydney Planning Committee (CSPC) will consider a development application (DA) for the site known as 'The Tramsheds' on Thursday, 28 July. The City Council's Planning Department has recommended refusal on the basis that the proposed development is a prohibited use and that the applicant has not established existing use rights. The Planning Department report does not discuss the merits of the 300 objections received from the public, presumably because it recommends refusal on other grounds. The Society has sought an assurance that, if the CSPC does not agree with the Planning Department recommendation, it will seek a further report discussing the issues raised in the objections.

Queries? email: planning@glebesociety.org.au