A SERIES of upgrades are planned to improve the Dudley Hotel, part of which involves the demolition of an existing function room..
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Bathurst Regional council received a development application from McPickelway Properties for the partial demolition of the hotel and construction of a new car park for the premises at 250 Stewart Street.
Those plans were approved by council at its December 9 ordinary meeting.
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The function room to be demolished is at the northern end of the site, with the demolition to make way for the extension of the car park.
Currently, the hotel's car park can accommodate 28 vehicles, but capacity will increase to 32 with the works.
With the car park extension will come a new egress point from the site.
A driveway on Lambert Street currently serves as both an ingress and egress point, but a new egress point will be constructed onto Stewart Street.
Council's director of Environmental, Planning and Building Services, Neil Southorn, explained the benefits of this new egress point.
"The proposed alterations to traffic flows on to Stewart Street (egress only) improves the overall circulation of traffic and removes the conflict points with the narrow underpass under the building and incoming traffic associated with the drive through," he said.
A verandah attached to the function room, part of the deck between the gaming area and the function room, and part of the masonry fence fronting Stewart Street will also need to be demolished to allow for the expansion of the car park and the new egress point.
Some on-street parking will be lost on Stewart Street as a result of the new egress point.
While these items were approved by council at the December meeting, they aren't the only plans the developer has for the Dudley Hotel.
Council recently approved a separate DA for alterations and additions to the Dudley Hotel involving the following:
- a new timber decking area between the existing north-east facing bistro area wall and adjoining gaming room and playground area
- upgrading the gaming room by providing new entrances from the front and rear of the hotel.
- the new front entrance includes removal of part of the front wall and providing a new frontage for the gaming room.
In approving the latest DA, council considered the location of the site, which falls within the heritage conservation area.
The focus was on the building to be demolished, being the dwelling, formerly 242 Stewart, that is currently used as a function room.
Mr Southorn said that the dwelling has been significantly altered over time and had a low Bathurst Conservation Area Management Strategy (BCAMS) rating.
"Overall 242 Durham provides little contribution to the heritage conservation area and its demolition can be supported," he said.
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The proposal for the hotel was notified to adjoining property owners and no submissions were received.
Similarly, there was no discussion between councillors prior to them approving the plans based on planning staff recommendations.
As a condition of consent, demolition is to be undertaken in a manner whereby all bricks and window and door joinery can be salvaged and cleaned to be reused and recycled if possible.
Prior to the demolition commencing, details of a heritage interpretation strategy will have to be submitted to council for approval and the outcomes are to be implemented prior to a Final Occupation Certificate for the development.
The strategy is to provide details of how the heritage of the site will be recorded and interpreted on/and around the existing buildings.
