Eastern Sydney’s city planning panel has asked Coogee Bay Hotel to amend its redevelopment plans and address some of the issues raised by the community during the assessment period so a conclusive decision could be made.
Coogee Bay Hotel should provide more information on the amendments before the panel meeting scheduled for 17 March 2022.
Some of the amendments to be clarified include concerns over the building’s height and scale that will impact the community. The owners of the hotel plan to build a six-storey complex along Vicar Street with a height of 23.3 meters. (DA/437/2021)
“A building of such height and bulk will block the views (to the bay, Wedding Cake and Dolphin Point) of many residents who live west of the site and loom over Coogee Bay Road and the scenic foreshore area,” a petition against the redevelopment stated.
“It will change the low-scale, low-key look and feel of the Coogee village centre forever.
The proposed height is twice the legislated planning height limit of 12m. It should be noted that other new developments in Coogee Bay Road have complied with this requirement.”
More than 8,500 have signed the petition to date.
In January, Urbis, the developer, has written Coogee locals who filed submissions to the development application to ask permission to visit their homes to “prepare photomontages of potential view impacts,” according to one local Rona Wade.
“They came to my place to take photos. One of the group was from the Council who was just overseeing what happened,” a resident confirmed.
Coogee Bay Hotel and the developer have also been asked to enumerate the economic impact of establishing a new supermarket on their site to the existing businesses around the area.
In November 2021, councillors of the Randwick City Council unanimously agreed to a motion to refuse the development and have submitted their opposition to the planning panel.
Listen to the audio recording of the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel meeting with Coogee Bay Hotel on 16 December 2021 below:
