PlanningAlerts

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1. The Marrickville Heritage Society is pleased that the owners and designers of the redevelopment of the historic Huntsbury Hotel have responded positively to the criticisms of their rejected 2017 scheme with a much improved proposal. The developers have sought expert advice from heritage and engineering consultants, and have been able to retain and adapt the historic interiors of the upper floors of the Hotel, that were previously deemed to be irretrievably damaged. Original Victorian and 1920s features, including fire places, joinery and plaster archways with decorative corbles will now be restored and featured in new apartments. The distinctive Inter-War Free Classical street facades will be retained and restored. The density of the whole deelopment has been scaled back, with the number of units, overall floor space and new building height reduced to comply with Council codes.

   The Society does remain concerned that the new glass and steel extension to the historic building along New Canterbury Road and Hunter Street is not sympathetic to the form or character of the classically rendered and painted Hotel. The extension has extensive floor to ceiling glazing, with metal framing and cladding coloured in the bleakly ubiquitous black/gray 'Monument'. The original building is proposed to be repainted with 'Monument ' highlights to match. The Society suggests that the fenestration of the new building should more sympathetic to the heritage building, with a higher proportion of solid wall to glazing. The colour scheme of the Hotel should be based on research to determine what previous colours the building was painted, and the new building's colour and material palettes should be complementary to the Hotel's historic character. Of particular concern are the large panels of carpark ventilation louvres on the ground floor elevation of the New Canterbury Road extension. The combination of metallic grey finishes and out of scale openings makes this important elevation particularly hostile, detracting from the streetscape and the setting of the adjacent Hotel.
   The Society requests that Council requires the applicant to satisfactorily address the heritage and design issues that have been raised in this submission, prior to any approval being granted.
   Scott MacArthur
   President, Marrickville Hertiage Society

2. This is an improvement from the original plan and credit to the team for keeping to the original Huntsbury Hotel building as much as possible.
   That said as a local resident there are two immediate concerns.
   The idea of building 16 Units and 25 Bedrooms supported by 12 Car spots (including no visitor spots) is just unreasonable.
   Parking around the area is already such a struggle. All parking options near the Huntsbury Hotel is very limited and currently listed as 2P. South side of New Canterbury Rd there are some areas which are not 2P where the parking situation is at crisis point for the residents.
   There are also concerns around the height of the building as well, especially on the Hunter St of the development.
   As a comparison the apartments on 123 New Canterbury although are 4 storeys high, but the building does not extend north on Hunter St as it does with the Huntsbury Hotel.
   For the Huntsbury Hotel new development to have 4 storeys that high heading north into Hunter Street is not consistent with the street wont fit in.
   In summary keep the development at its current height of the Hunstbury Hotel (3 storeys) and build adequate parking for the units and bedrooms being built (at least 1.5 spots per unit including visitors).

3. As a local resident who already has daily struggles parking anywhere near my house, I cannot stress strongly enough how important adequate and appropriate parking plans for new developments are. Streets near Canterbury Rd and Wardell Road are already being completely parked out by residents and people working in businesses on Canterbury Rd.
   I support previous suggestions that provision for additional parking must be considered a priority, and that height restrictions for the Huntsbury Hotel development also be guaranteed.

4. This current DA is an improvment on the previous DA for this site, however there are still issues with a lack of parking, and the proposed height/bulk of the development.

   There is already a lack of available parking on Hunter Street. The current DA does not adequately allow for sufficiant onsite parking for the residents of the new development (ie only 12 car parking spots). This is going to cause undue pressure on an already overcrowded street in terms of available parking.

   Also, the proposed height and bulk of the new development is out of keeping with with the original historic Hotel and facade. This should be addressed so as to be sympathetic to the existing historic structure.

   These issues should be considered by Council when assessing the DA.

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