The once sleepy seaside town of Lennox Head, like so many others, continues to undergo a rapid facelift with plans for a new three-storey hotel the latest on show.
Authorities recently spent several months upgrading roads, parking and footpaths around parts of Lennox Head, causing traffic and commercial headache.
The Ballina Shire Council asked the community to be patient and to support local businesses during the upheavals and little has been heard by way of complaint since works finished.
Newly exhibited plans for a 35-room hotel at 52 and 54 Ballina Street, Lennox Head, show what is envisioned to replace the modest buildings and sheds on two blocks a street back from the beach.
The $19 million complex includes solar panels, EV charging and a two-level basement car park for 86 spaces, with 38 on the upper level for the public.
Plans include several breaches of Ballina Shire Council limitations including on height, floor space ratio and boundary set-backs.
From shop-top housing to boutique hotel
Accompanying documents tell the tale of developer Graham Dunn initially planning some simple ‘shop-top’ housing in the likes of apartments but soon being persuaded to think outside the box.
‘Based on this feedback, and in light of the painful process underway in neighbouring Byron Shire to try and reign in the short term holiday letting of residential homes, in June 2022 Graham revised his plan for the sites,’ notes from one of the documents state.
‘He engaged hospitality and hotelier consultants Jeremy & Jones,’ before seeking consultation in August 2022 on ‘some initial feedback on the tourist accommodation concept and considering a broader community engagement plan’.
‘Given that the intended scheme for the sites had changed significantly Graham then reached out to a number of specialist architects,’ the notes say, before describing how Mr Dunn went on to engage Brisbane based architects Little Boat Projects.
Cubes, decks and breezes at the Ballina Surf Lodge
The new plans for the site show an impressive bulk-of-scale use based on, perhaps ironically, box designs, for a new Ballina Surf Lodge hotel.
The cubed rooms rowed around the corner block each feature fully shaded rectangular balconies laced with greenery in the artist’s impression.
Inside the complex are more cubed designs and a rectangular swimming pool.
Information from the developer said the new surf lodge was proposed as four buildings, ‘set around a pool and gardens, connected by heavily landscaped open decks’.
‘The precinct has been pulled apart to allow breezes to move through,’ the notes read, ‘the building arrangement is open and accessible’.
‘The decks between the buildings and leading to all rooms are not solely for access,’ the description continued, ‘they are wider than corridors, providing more places for guests to socialise and dwell’.
Attendees at a Lennox Heads Residents Association meeting who witnessed a presentation from the developer about the project spoke of being impressed by the heavy use of wood in the design but the DA appears to show more concrete than wood.
New restaurant and bar planned for former suburban block
Responses at the meeting were generally positive, aside from one woman who was described as believing there would be a nightclub on the roof.
‘Nothing would convince her otherwise,’ the developer said and indeed written feedback shows the complaint.
‘You say no now but how can I trust you,’ the objection read, ‘I don’t like it. I don’t want it bringing drugs and alcohol into Lennox’.
Conversely, ‘one other person who attended said they would like to see more shops and restaurants’, the notes read.
Plans submitted by consultants Newton Denny Chapelle also feature a swimming pool, bar and restaurant.
Parking for the public would be charged after one hour.
As well as demolition and earthworks, the plans require dewatering, vegetation management works, landscaping and civil works.
The variation sought on the floor space was 73% but the developer said 61.25% was ‘through the public basement parking’.
That variation, therefore, did not contribute to the bulk and scale of the building, the developer said.
The total height planned was the council’s nine metre limit, the developer said, with ‘a lift tower slightly over that but not visible from the street’.
The developer described a focus on ‘openness from the street view through the ground floor with landscaped vegetation providing street definition in lieu of fencing’.
Submissions on the DA were to close Friday 16 February 2024 with a build time of ‘potentially 18 months from commencement’, the developer said.
Members of the LHRA at the meeting suggested ‘liaison with the Lennox Arts Board regarding art works and Lennox Head Landcare for appropriate native planting to be included in landscaping,’ the developer’s notes read.
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