Sutherland Shire Council has reserved its opinion on the latest expanded plans for Bluestone Property Solutions Woolooware Bay Town Centre development being built on the Cronulla Sharks site.
Bluestone, the development company working with Cronulla Sharks, has outlined the proposed amendments for stage four of the development on the eastern side of the site.
This includes an extra 200 apartments in three buildings, a 125-room hotel, 600-square-metre conference and function centre to be owned and operated by Sharks, and 500 square-metres of community space which will also be operated by Sharks.
After community consultation, Bluestone reduced the level of the north-east tower by 12 metres, or three storeys, and the floor-area by approximately 1800 square metres, the equivalent of 25 apartments.
But it decided to increase the hotel aspect by two storeys, from 75 to 125 rooms.
The hotel is expected to create 50 jobs and the conference centre 20 jobs.
Plans also include a sporting centre of excellence, new gym, physiotherapy, massage and medical suites, a sporting hall of fame and a merchandise shop.
Bluestone Property Solutions chief executive officer Ben Fairfax said the amendments to the plans were in response to community feedback.
Construction has already commenced on stage one of the project for 227 apartments and more than 440 apartments have been sold in the first two-and-a-half stages and 95 per cent of these have been to locals.
Last week, Bluestone also decided to amend stage three of the development on the western side of the site to add another 46 apartments bringing the total number of this stage to 238 apartments. This would bring the total number of apartments across stages one to three to 643.
Bluestone is seeking the council’s ‘‘in principle’’ endorsement of the proposed amendments.
While having no role in the determination of the application, the council will be formally consulted by the Department of Planning as part of its assessment process.
The council can choose to make a submission on the proposal at that time.
The council’s position has been that it would be difficult to express firm views about the proposal at this stage given that details plans and information are not yet available.
‘‘Council officers do not have sufficient information and have not had sufficient time to undertake a detailed assessment of the proposed modification,’’ a report by council planning staff said.
‘‘Council may wish to give consideration to the principle of whether it supports further residential development in this location and/or in principle of having tourist accommodation provided.
‘’Now that the concept plan has been approved including the shopping centre and apartments, there may be value in providing additional residential units to make the new centre more viable and vibrant.
‘‘The original concept application attracted considerable concern in relation to traffic, parking and the provision of public transport in the area.
‘‘Additional development on the site would require careful consideration of these issues.
‘‘In the absence of detailed information, the council would be best to express ‘‘in principle’’ views at this stage and reserve the opportunity for more detailed comments once the application has been submitted and NSW Planning and Environment formally request the council’s input.’’
But last night’s meeting of the council’s development assessment committee decided to “receive and note” the report and reserve its opinion for a future date.
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