The Bangalow Community Association (BCA) has objected against a planned $13m upgrade of the town’s iconic pub, saying that amended plans, ‘do not adequately address the numerous community concerns expressed at a well-attended and informative pre-development application (DA) community consultation meeting’.
The redevelopment of the Bangalow Hotel is back on public exhibition, with numerous requests for information (RFIs) by Council planning staff being addressed by the applicant.
Issues flagged included heritage, traffic, stormwater, waste and acoustics.
According to Development Application (DA) 10.2024.416.1, the historic building dates back to around 1939/40, ‘when Bangalow had a population of maybe 1,000 people (now nearly 10,000 people)’.
Consultant architecture firm, Fabric, make the case for improvements, so that the pub remains ‘commercially viable, operationally efficient and provide a workplace that meets contemporary occupational health and safety standards for staff. This is a major driving factor from the owners/clients perspective’.
Demolition work is internal only, say the applicant’s consultants, ‘and has been significantly reduced by the amendments’.
However, Ian Holmes from BCA writes ‘Byron LEP and DCP 2014 conditions clearly state that the fabric within a heritage item must be restored, rather than being destroyed and rearranged, as emphasised by the BSC planner and heritage advisor’.
With 20 gaming machines proposed, the applicants made their case for creating a gaming room where the entertainment space currently is.
They say the current gaming room is in a line of sight to patrons, and ‘prohibits efficient operation’.
And given the music room has not been used for live entertainment for a number of years, the space will enable users, ‘to come and go without interacting with the venue at large’.
The 37 documents associated with DA 10.2024.416.1 are on Council’s website.
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