The height, scale and massing of the proposal will dominate the surrounds and fail to respond positively to the surrounding context.
The proposal will create excessive visual bulk and unreasonable public realm amenity and overshadowing impacts.
The light colours of the southern facade treatments and proposals for roller shutters of any business premises, are of excessive reflectivity and will cause unacceptable scattering and reflection of lighting from the Carpenter Street road reserve to the residential sites on the south of the street and beyond.
The external lighting of the proposal has not been assessed by an environmental consultant as being of minimal impact, managed by appropriate timing, and being of a type and nature as well as colour temperature that will avoid unreasonable amenity impacts upon the surrounding sites and public realm.
The lack of quality design and facade treatments and articulation elements will provide poor street level activation and a positive public realm amenity response.
The lodgment date of this proposal indicates that the applicant anticipates it to be controversial and may like to minimise objections - though they would probably say that I'm embarking upon speculation with that view.
The basement carparking aspect of the proposal and location of its entry and exit points and crossover construction within the road reserve will create unreasonable amenity impacts within the narrow Day Street, given that parking is currently allowed on the eastern side of Day Street and the existing uses.
The overall proposal will generate unreasonable amenity impacts upon surrounding residential sites based on acoustic, traffic and pedestrian safety.
The light likely to be emitted by the proposal and its structures and uses will create unreasonable surrounding area amenity impacts.
Insufficient acoustic consultants reports have been obtained about the significant and unreasonable amenity impacts to surrounding sites and the public realm that would result by acoustics and the failure to attenuate their impacts given regard to likely sources such as business activity, traffic, air conditioning units, exhaust facilities and refrigeration plant for any food service businesses.
During the hours past sunset, the lack of contemplation of suitable acoustic attenuation and treatment of food service plant such as exhaust and refrigeration equipment will generate unreasonable amenity impacts within the private open spaces and habitable rooms of homes in surrounding sites.
There is not environmental reports addressing the impacts of odour from the intensification of hospitality and food service uses in the proposal.
There is currently a liquor store use in the site whose entry is in the site's western boundary. This would be an incompatible use in the same premises as a child care centre, and indeed if such a use was to be retained or provided for it would only avoid unreasonable amenity impacts if its entry was upon the site's southern boundary along Carpenter Street.
Currently though, the northern road reserve of Carpenter Street that is also east of Day Street is an activated public realm used for the gathering of local young people and children, and there is a concern submitted that any liquor store use is an inappropriate response to the context whether is entry is sited at the proposals eastern or southern boundary.
The proposal fails to integrate suitable disability and wheelchair access to all of its upper level in accordance with the relevant standards and this is submitted as another reason for refusal.
The proposal fails to provide sufficient analysis from a traffic engineer with reference to B99 vehicles, swept path analysis, entry and egress, management of conflicts between pedestrian and motor vehicle movements, all within and outside the site and also contemplating key routes for site access.
I consider these impacts cannot be mitigated except if the crossovers associated with the proposal were placed in Carpenter Street, or in the alternate if significant local traffic controls and works in the surrounds were implemented after a Traffic Engineer's review, this would be unacceptable as the measures in mitigation would be imposed at the community's (via Council) expense while the community of Day Street and Muscio Street residents contend with impacts of increased traffic and its pedestrian safety and acoustic impacts.
Part of the local context is several small shops that have a significant attendance by customers who travel by walking, as well as by driving.
Carpenter Street, though a popular local thoroughfare, it must be mentioned that it is not a feeder nor arterial road, indeed it has a speed limit of 50kmh and its responsible authority is the Council.
At the equinox, the land west of the subject site will experience substantial overshadowing prior to late morning and unreasonable amenity impacts noting the context. Also the northern road reserve of Carpenter Street will experience unreasonable amenity impacts due to the overshadowing and the proposal fail to positively activate the public realm.
The lack of meaningful landscaping in the southern portion of the site that is contiguous with the road reserve will fail to positively activate the public realm and contribute to negative amenity impacts.
The provision of a centre based childcare facility on the building's first floor does not respond appropriately to modern accessibility and DDA standards, unless an elevator linking the carpark, ground and first floor is provided with internal dimensions of more than 3 square metres.
While some growth in this local commercial centre is desirable, the proposal overall does seem a rather heavy impact upon Day Street, if the whole of Day Street and the surrounding streets are considered in the local traffic context.
The overdevelopment of the site and its subsequent impacts has the potential to contribute to dereliction of the neighbourhood centre, fail to provide quality activation, and generate poor public realm amenity.
The proposal, particularly the parking entry and crossover locations, fails to positively respond to:
Zone B1 Neighbourhood Centre
1 Objectives of zone
• To provide a range of small-scale retail, business and community uses that serve the needs of people who live or work in the surrounding neighbourhood.
• To provide retail facilities for the local community commensurate with the centre’s role in the local and regional retail hierarchy.
• To create opportunities to improve the public domain and encourage the integration of centres with public transport and pedestrian networks.
• To ensure that development reflects the desired future character and dwelling densities of the area.
The proposal fails to address water sensitive urban design and will result in an unacceptable discharge of concentrated stormwater into the local stormwater network.
The car parking and waste areas if approved need to have floor drains connected to the sewer network vis a vis stormwater in order to avoid the unacceptable entry of pollutants into the stormwater network.
The traffic to be generated by the proposal is excessive for a neighbourhood centre site on a local street, and would be appropriately sited upon a major feeder, arterial or regional road or within a major commercial centre. On balance the proposal is an inappropriate planning outcome.
Due to the significant number of concentrated (peak period) motor car trips likely to be associated with the proposal's implementation, and the location of site access and crossover dimensions, the proposal as is appears an inappropriate planning outcome for the site and context and should be refused.
The proposed development is not suitable having regard to Section 4.15 of the
Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
