Boutique boarding house plan resubmitted with changes

A boutique boarding house proposed and then withdrawn for 454 Ocean Beach Rd, Umina, has been proposed again with 15 modifications.

The new development application has modified the height and floor size and increased the boundary setbacks.

Overshadowing of southern properties have been reduced and ceiling heights changed to comply with the Building Code of Australia.

The minimum length of stay for residents has been increased from three months to six months.

The estimated cost of the work remains the same at almost two million dollars and it is still a two-storey boutique boarding house with 11 rooms and six car parking spaces.

The site is about 100 metres south of the roundabout with West St and Sydney Ave and currently has two houses on it.

The rear house would be only partly demolished and altered to provide a manager's residence attached to the boarding house with its 11 self-contained rooms.

The existing zoning allows for boarding houses.

The application, submitted by Mr Charles Dominec Raneri on September 16 , is on public exhibition until October 18.

The new proposal has already attracted a number of public submissions.

Main complaints are about the type of development it is, objecting on the grounds of public safety and wanting to maintain the character of the area.

However, one submission said: "I am a local resident and I find myself torn between compassion and selfishness.

"The proposed site is very close to public transport and there are health services in the area as ample as anywhere else.

"Perhaps we should get out of this 'not in my backyard' mentality and forget our own parochial interests."

Many of the submissions talked about residents being people leaving jail or rehab clinic but the applicant stated the home was privately-owned and aimed at low to middle income earners.

Council requested the applicant prepare and submit a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design report. The report addressed four key strategies.

One was territorial re-enforcement - a principle that people rarely commit crimes in areas where the risk of detection and challenge is high.

"Residents will have ownership of their outdoor areas adjacent to their rooms.

"Residents are spatially connected to their open spaces and have a greater sense of responsibility for them."

The application said the boarding house use would mostly likely not be well received by local residents due to their pre-conception that a boarding house would attract undesirable patrons in terms of low socio-economic background where such resentment is fuelled by prejudice against this demographic.

"The loss of more affordable caravan parks and manufactured housing estates, and relative undersupply of more affordable housing types is having a serious impact on low to moderate income renters and those more vulnerable in the local housing market,'' the application stated.

"This type of new generation boarding house facility will attract members of the community that are self-sufficient and that desire to live independently rather than share facilities.

"This mode of lifestyle promotes self-respect and independence for their residents.

"It is unfortunate that this type of accommodation falls under the label of "boarding house".

"The use of the "boarding House" label fosters alarm and panic in the local community.

"The proposed boutique style boarding house will not target very low income groups.

"It is designed to privately assist low to moderate income groups. Accordingly, it will help alleviate housing stress and homelessness and take some stress of social housing.

"The ability to disperse housing which is more affordable in small boutique style developments mixed in with ordinary accommodation also helps assimilate the demographic into the general community as equals within the community, without the stigma of being labelled or associated with larger public institutional type facilities.

"The social advantages of integration of both low to moderate income demographic with higher income demographics betters the entire community."

SOURCE:

DA Tracker, 8 Oct 2019

DA 56417, DA 57231, Central Coast Council