Five-storey shop-top housing in 'key location'
A five-storey shop-top housing development application has been submitted for 275 Ocean View Rd, Ettalong Beach.
The proposal consists of two levels of basement car parking with 36 spaces, ground level retail, four levels with 23 serviced apartments and a rooftop terrace on the "old post office" site on the corner of Memorial Dr.
The application was prepared by Matthew Wales and Associates on behalf of Baruhoy Investment Pty Ltd.
It states that "shop-top housing means one or more dwellings located above ground floor retail premises or business premises".
"The proposed development complies with the definition of shop-top housing as all 23 residential apartments are above the proposed commercial-retail floor plate."
The application also makes reference to a pre lodgement meeting held with Central Coast Council on September 21 last year.
The main issues were said to include a statement that: "It is unlikely that Council officers or the Local Planning Panel as the determining authority will support the significant exceedance of the floor space ratio standard, which is the equivalent of four two-bedroom dwellings;"
Other reported statements included that "careful consideration of changing levels between the forecourt and the ground floor tenancies to address flooding will be required".
It also reported that council officers stated that "proposed ground floor use should be business or retail (which includes food and drink) to ensure active frontages".
According to the application, the proposal exceeds the height limit of 17 m, with lift overrun of 3.31 metres (19.1 per cent), a stairwell for roof access of 2.4 metres (14.1 per cent), a inner parapet wall of 0.615 metres (3.6 per cent) and an outer parapet wall of 0.710 metres (4.17 per cent).
The application proposes a floor space ratio of 2.2:1 which exceeds the allowable ratio of 2:1 by 10 per cent.
The application devotes 22 pages to the Clause 4.6 justification for the variations.
Points made in favour of the variations include "the design merit and key location of the proposed development".
Other points were "its relationship to the future streetscape and the overall bulk and scale of the building; and the imperative to lift the design standard of what has traditionally been seen as the centre of the Ettalong Beach village centre."
Under the heading "socio-economic effects", the application states: "The proposed mixed use (shop-top housing) development will have many positive socio-economic benefits for the local community".
In particular, it stated it would provide "much-needed apartment style residential accommodation near services in the Ettalong Beach village centre and walking distance to the Ettalong Beach foreshore and the Palm Beach Ferry service".
It would also provide "high-quality retail-commercial shops within the Ettalong Beach village centre where there is a need for good quality floor space".
The status listed on the council website for this application is currently "notification-advertising", but a closing date for submissions is not given.
SOURCE:
DA Tracker, 18 Feb 2022
DA146/2022, Central Coast Council