IN response to the recent letter We Don't Have To Accept The First Proposal For CBD Land (April 19), there are a couple of really important points that need to be clarified.
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Firstly, the Post Office is not 12 metres high. It's actually about 23 metres high. So, the opposition based on height seems a bit unfair, especially when considering that, topographically, the land fall from the Post Office to the old Clancy's site is about five to six metres.
If the proposed Bathurst Integrated Medical Centre (BIMC) is 29 metres high, that would seem to have it pretty close to the same height as the Post Office.
Secondly, in terms of the criticism levelled at Bathurst Regional Council for apparently not having actively sought other expressions of interest, it is important to point out that is not council's job.
Imagine if council had to call for alternative expressions of interest, from competing developers, on every commercial DA lodged in Bathurst, on privately owned land!
Council's job is to consider the proposal put forward by the developer aiming to develop the BIMC project, privately funded on privately held land, and assess it against the relevant planning instruments.
The main difference, in this case, is that council also has the opportunity to work co-operatively with the developer to build more community parking on an existing, adjacent, council-held car park.
Ultimately, as the proposed BIMC is a state significant project, DA approval will fall to the NSW Planning Department.
The real question for the Bathurst community is actually not whether this is the absolute best and most ideal use for the site.
The question is: having received a proposal from a developer who wants to construct an integrated medical centre including GP services, specialist consulting rooms, critical allied health services such as pathology and radiology, and a brand new two level private hospital; while, at the same time, significantly increasing the availability of parking in the CBD; can we, as a community, really afford to knock it back?
