PLANS to build 10 townhouses on a key development site in Keppel Street have been lodged with Bathurst Regional Council five years after the block was controversially cleared in the city’s first “demolition by neglect” case.
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Owners Craig and Dianne Sharah have lodged a development application for a $2.9 million redevelopment of 133-141 Keppel Street that would see a mix of two-storey and single-storey units built on the site that stands within the Bathurst CBD Heritage Conservation Zone.
Four dilapidated cottages that stood on the 4470 square metre site were razed in 2012.
One of those cottages housed a greengrocer’s store owned by the applicants’ grandfather, Charles Sharah, that was a forerunner to the Sharahs’ successful Country Fruit store on George Street.
The decision to allow the site to be cleared angered the local branch of the National Trust who called it a case of demolition by neglect.
Mr Sharah said at the time that he was not seeking to clear the site for financial gain but, rather, because the cost of maintaining the derelict buildings was not sustainable.
A home at 141 Keppel Street that was previously restored by the Sharahs will remain in place under the new plans with three new two-storey units to be built fronting Keppel Street.
The other seven units will be built in a line down to the rear of the block which also has Jordan Creek running down one of its borders.
A Heritage Impact Statement lodged with the DA said the plans had been designed with “clear and specific reference” to the site’s heritage context.
“We have carefully studied the wall heights of adjacent buildings, the rhythm of open space and subdivision pattern, proportion of windows and other openings and other openings to ensure the new homes are good neighbours amongst their peers,” IDG director Tony McBurney wrote.
“… We have then created unashamedly modern homes demonstrating confidence in an ongoing participation in Bathurst’s heritage, bringing the next generation of modern living into the heart of the city.”
Sandy Bathgate from the National Trust said he had not yet viewed the plans but was hoping to see something that reflected the heritage importance of the area.
“If we don’t get something that’s sympathetic in terms of bulk, scale and streetscape then we will be resurrecting all the reasons that the initial approval to clear that site were wrong,” he said.
