Jenny Coman, Bangalow.
It is difficult to try to protect heritage and aesthetic values when up against the profit motive.
In Bangalow, as reported by Chris Dobney last week, the owner of 9 Station St, the triple block next to the A&I Hall, has put in another DA, unfortunately very similar to the one thrown out by the Land and Environment Court three years ago.
It seems this developer has taken little notice of the Commissioner’s judgement that the proposed building was too big and bulky for the site and the street : the ‘new’ one straddles most of the site, is three storeys high and threatens to diminish the visual impact of our historic A&I. It is completely outside the guidelines and recommendations for Station St at the heart of our Heritage Conservation area.
The construction of a building like this on Station St would set a dangerous precedent and very possibly start a process of destruction of the Heritage character of our CBD. The developer must know that Bangalow would welcome development sympathetic and/or complementary to the area, e.g. two two-storey buildings with green space between but of course these would be more expensive to build and we are up against the profit motive – or could we call it greed?
