Application for five-storey 83-room hotel in Ettalong

An application for a five-storey 83-room hotel in Memorial Ave, Ettalong, adjacent to the Atlantis building would feature a guests-only roof top bar, lounge and swimming pool.

The exclusive roof top area brings the height of the development over the 17 metres limit to 18.6 metres high.

The roof terrace has structures for a bar, bathrooms and lift overruns plus rooftop services and glass balustrade around the pool.

The applicant argues that the site maximum height limit is exceeded at the centre of the roof plane and has no effect on overshadowing, privacy or views.

"Where it is seen looking south from Memorial Ave, the structure will appear as an integrated visual extension of the lifts which will be seen through the open courtyard."

Squillance Architecture submitted the proposal for 216-220 Memorial Ave which includes two levels of basement parking for 77 cars with the hotel rooms across levels one to four.

The estimated cost is almost $18.6 million

The application was lodged on May 13 and the public will be able to comment on the proposal until June 6.

The application states: "The inclusion of a roof terrace bar and pool supports tourism and the local economy and will assist in improving the external perception and awareness of Ettalong Beach as a unique coastal experience for tourism.

"The building's roof has been designed to create a highly amenable space that does not result in any significant negative environmental impacts."

The summary states that the building is "in some regards" non-compliant with the Gosford Development Control Plan 2013 but has been designed to provide a unique addition to the evolving architecture of the Ettalong Beach Town Centre.

It argues that: "the non-compliances do not result in any significant negative environmental impacts and instead contribute to a distinctive contemporary design of exceptional quality in the Ettalong Beach Town Centre".

The new hotel would overshadow some of the units at the new Atlantis building, reducing the minimum three hours of mid-winter solar access from three units which is a reduction of 14.3 per cent.

The applicant argues the proposal "does not have an unacceptable shadow impact on the adjacent development".

The lane to the south will be permanently overshadowed and the proposal does not provide a three metre setback.

A second lane does not provide the three metre setback where it provides back of house area and an existing substation.

The application argues that the proposal's non-compliance with built form controls does not result in a significantly greater shadow impact upon footpaths than would be permissible under a fully compliant scheme.

It says it is consistent with the aims of the Gosford Development Control Plan 2013 in that the proposal will enhance the built form of the Ettalong Beach Town Centre, create new jobs and establish a new high-quality hotel with associated facilities to increase the perception and awareness of Ettalong Beach as a tourist destination.

The hotel is proposed to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The roof terrace bar is proposed to operate from 8am to 9pm, seven days per week, with a maximum capacity of 60 patrons.

The ground floor restaurant and conference facilities are to operate 6:30am to 11pm, seven days per week, but with no external seating before 7am or after 10pm.

The parking report presumes 0.2 peak hour vehicle trips per accommodation room and adds up to about 17 vehicle trips per hour during the morning peak and 25 during the afternoon peak.

That number is offset by the volume of traffic "which could reasonably be expected to be generated by the existing uses of the site" including parking for some 30 cars which "can be conservatively assumed to generate 15 peak hour vehicle trips during the morning and afternoon peak hour".

The traffic report claims: "It is likely the proposed development will not result in any appreciable change in the traffic generation potential of the site during peak periods".

SOURCE:

DA Tracker, 20 May 2019

DA56500, Central Coast Council