The Atlantis Apartments Residents Group (AARG) is hoping to convince Hunter Central Coast Regional Planning Panel (RPP) to reject current plans for two high rise residential towers on the Short St carpark site at The Entrance.
AARG members will address the November 4 RPP meeting before it again considers Central Coast Council’s concept masterplan for a mixed use development incorporating 102 residential units in two high-rise towers, 321 parking spaces over three basement levels, retail/commercial spaces, as well as entertainment, community services and facilities.
The nine-storey Atlantis Apartments are opposite the proposed development site, bounded by Dening St, Theatre La, Bayview Ave and Short St, and residents say they will be severely over shadowed by the twin towers.
AARG says the proposed 48.9m tower facing Dening St and a 34.97m building on Bayview Ave will significantly impact their sweeping views of Tuggerah Lakes, reduce their sunlight dramatically and cause serious traffic and parking issues in the already congested narrow streets.
The northern tower at 10 Dening St will be almost twice the height of Atlantis Apartments at 26m.
This site has a long history going back to 2013 when it was identified as one of 32 sites at The Entrance, Wyong, Long Jetty, Toukley, Kanwal, Lake Haven and Warnervale to be developed under the former Wyong Council’s Key Sites Development Control Plan (DCP).
It was a scheme meant to promote economic growth and create jobs by offering incentives to developers, such as increased height limits and staged developer contribution payments.
Hopes of employment generating iconic buildings were dashed when few developers came forward with proposals and those that did failed to see them through to fruition.
The former Wyong Council put in its own concept masterplan for the Short St carpark, in 2016, for 81 units in two separate residential towers, 93 car parking spaces and retail spaces, under the Key Sites Development Control Plan (DCP).
That plan for the Council owned site was subsequently rejected in May 2018, with one of the refusal reasons being “gross exceedance of the maximum building height”.
A modified DA 1483/2018 was lodged by Central Coast Council on December 14, 2018, just before the lapse of the Key Sites DCP on December 23.
AARG claims Council rushed through the new DA to take advantage of the 50m height limit in the Key Sites DCP.
The current Wyong Local Environment Plan applicable to the site has a maximum height limit of 31m.
Council’s current DA has been twice amended following criticism by the RPP about its lack of detail and understanding of a masterplan worthy of this key development site.
AARG members are asking why the current DA is even being considered, given that it is significantly larger than the DA which was previously rejected.
In correspondence to AARG, Council says that once costed, the original proposal of 81 units was not financially viable, so an increase to 102 units ensured the viability of the project.
It should be noted that the proposal is substantially less than the 50m maximum allowable height and bulk allowed under the Key Sites provisions, Council stated.
“This has been considered so as to ensure that view corridors, solar access and neighbourhood amenity are maintained,” the Council correspondence said.
AARG Chairman, Denis Nuttall, said: “This has been bubbling along for years, without any opportunities to have input, and there doesn’t seem to have been any studies done as to whether this is a good or bad thing for The Entrance.
“It appears that no other infrastructure is going in, so we’re going to have 102 units with about 150 to 200 cars just for the accommodation component, and then add the parking already provided in the existing carpark.
“How are we going to service that, with the roads being so narrow, and the masterplan shows that Short St will be further narrowed for a loading/service area for the proposed development and at the expense of residential car parking,” Nuttall said.
“The description of the high rise section as two towers is grossly misleading, as the towers are linked by a common lobby for lifts and stairs which fills the gap between the two towers for the full height and thus creates a 14-floor screen for most of the length of the site.
“This is clearly a contravention of the DCP in relation to shadowing and separation.
“Although the DA states that it won’t dominate our apartments, it is hard to envisage anything but domination when Atlantis is 26m high and the proposal will create a 14-storey solid concrete wall,” Nuttall said.
The DA’s revised Statement of Environmental Effects (SEE) of June 26, acknowledges some overshadowing due to the proposal’s block form, scale and location.
Shadow diagrams in the SEE reveal that the Atlantis building will be in shadow from 1pm “which allows about three-and-a-half hours of sunlight on the western side from about 9.30am to 1pm, which is within acceptable limits”.
AARG says Atlantis apartments on lower levels will be in shadow most of the day, just as a single dwelling at 2 Short St acknowledged in the SEE.
The SEE states that current views will be impacted and a view analysis done by architects under planning principles established by the Land and Environment Court came to the conclusion “that the impact upon the views from the Atlantis building caused by the future redevelopment of the site are reasonable and considered to be justified”.
“Again, this loss is not in accord with the DCP, the SEE is in error, and we have our own architect’s report to challenge the validity of that view analysis,” Nuttall said.
This concept masterplan is stage one of the redevelopment proposal and if approved, a separate development application containing detailed designs will have to be lodged and approved before construction can begin.
Sue Murray