The long running Plaza redevelopment proposal has now found its way to the Land and Environment Court. And you guessed it, there’s another exhibition involved!
A quick recap of the proposal: It is a "mixed use development" over a 9,000 square metre site that includes a new three level development with a Coles twice (3 times?) its current size, 13 retail shops and 77 residential units across six blocks. There are also three levels of underground parking and services accessible from a single entrance only, via King Street. To make way for this, the proposal includes a new set of traffic lights at the corner of King St and Lawrence Hargrave Drive. This requires removal of virtually all street parking along Lawence Hargrave Drive outside shops and cafes in the heart of Thirroul. Car spaces in King St will also be lost.
The Plaza DA will now be heard in the Land and Environment Court between 25-28 July 2022. The developer has changed their plans again - the new plans will be exhibited from 30 March until 13 April. These are the final plans to be considered by the Commissioner of the court for them to make a decision about the development, and so it’s important that once again, the community has their say on these plans.
Reviewing the plans it is evident that none of the significant array of concerns raised by thousands of community members have been addressed.
A quick review of what is wrong with the proposal: introduction of a new set of traffic lights at King Street at the expense of a significant amount of street parking along Lawrence Hargrave Drive and King St, the bulk and scale of the design is out of character with Thirroul, loss of views from the village to the escarpment, introduction of 77 units into the heart of the village puts evening activities such as live music at risk, uncertainty of the impact to downstream stormwater network in large rain events, small business at risk due to loss of parking access.
