34 Busby Street Planning Proposal

A Planning Proposal has been submitted to Council which seeks to amend the Bathurst Regional Local Environmental Plan 2014 (LEP) to insert site-specific provisions to support a greater density of dwellings on the residual allotment at 34 Busby Street, South Bathurst.

The Planning Proposal relates to part of 34 Busby Street, South Bathurst, Lot 22 DP1033481 which currently contains local heritage item St Joseph’s Mount (Logan Brae). The land has a current approval under Development Application (DA) 2020/50, granted on 3 June 2021, for a three-lot subdivision of the land. The three resultant lots would contain:

• ‘Lot 223’, being a 550m² lot containing the existing single-storey ‘Gatekeeper’s Cottage’
• ‘Lot 225’, being a 2.3ha lot containing the existing St Joseph’s Mount (Logan Brae) and associated heritage curtilage and vegetation buffer
• ‘Lot 226’, a 2.28ha residual lot.

The LEP amendments that are sought in this Planning Proposal relate only to the land defined as ‘Lot 226’.

Figure 1 - 34 Busby Street aerial

Figure 2 – Subdivision plan approved in DA 2020/50. Blue line indicates area where the Planning Proposal applies.

After the Gateway Determination, Council received an Amended Planning Proposal and Amended Master Plan. These are available for viewing in the Document Library.

The proposed amendments involve the following:

The Planning Proposal proposes to deliver an increased supply of townhouses comprising of 2-3 bedrooms for a total of 72 new dwellings, and an apartment building which will provide 50 dwellings across 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom formats. Overall the amended Planning Proposal’s projected dwelling yield is 122 dwellings, a reduction from 218 dwellings (44% reduction).

Based on the amended proposed number of dwellings, the Planning Proposal proposes a population increase of 284 persons residing on the site, reduced from 505 persons (43% reduction).

The Planning Proposal seeks to contribute significantly to housing diversity and choice in a location close to community and educational facilities and within reasonable proximity to the CBD. Whether the Planning Proposal is able to deliver affordable dwellings is a matter that is not easily determined at this time given that amenity and market factors, and the noise attenuation that may be required to mitigate potential impacts from the Mount Panorama Racing Circuit may influence the price point above acceptable affordability levels. Nonetheless it will improve housing diversity and choice.

An Additional Permitted Use (APU) under Schedule 1 of the LEP is sought to support the inclusion of retail premises to enable food and drink premises which would otherwise be prohibited in the proposed R3 Medium Density Residential zone.

Council has recommended that the APU should be specific to enable food and drink premises only and should be restricted to a maximum floor area of all food and drink tenancies on the site to no more than 300m². Individual tenancies are recommended to be a max of 150m² consistent with the floor area limitation imposed on a neighbourhood shop. The recommendation for the treatment of the APU is consistent with the LEP amendment proposed at the adjacent 50 Busby Street site.

Council has assessed as being generally consistent with Council, State and Regional strategic plans and strategies.

Council’s assessment of the Planning Proposal has, however, highlighted the need for independent Peer Reviews/Independent Assessments of the submitted Traffic and Noise Impact Assessments to ensure the Planning Proposal is consistent with the objectives of the Bathurst 2036 Housing Strategy and Vision Bathurst 2040 – the Bathurst Region Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS). The Peer Reviews are recommended to ensure Council fully understands:

• The potential impacts of noise from the Mount Panorama racing circuit on the proposed development and whether any impacts can be appropriately mitigated.
• The potential for noise impacts from the new medium density housing on the existing residential neighbourhood.
• The potential for noise impacts from the adaptive reuse of the former St Joseph's Mount (Logan Brae) site on adjoining proposed medium density housing and vice versa.
• The ability for the local road network to support traffic generation from the proposed development.

To ensure design excellence is achieved, Council is seeking the inclusion of a new local provision to be inserted in the LEP, as part of the Planning Proposal, that requires a site-specific Development Control Plan (DCP) to be in place before development consent can be granted. As part of the site-specific DCP chapter, Council anticipates that design excellence development controls similar to those found in Schedule 9 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (Housing SEPP) of the NSW Department of Planning and Environment's Apartment Design Guide, will be developed and implemented before development consent can be issued on the site.

The Planning Proposal does not approve the development. The Planning Proposal only seeks to amend the Planning Controls to facilitate development of the site as proposed in the concept Master Plan.

Council is not considering the concept master plan as the final design of the development as this is expected to change in response to design guidelines incorporated into the recommended site-specific DCP. At this stage, Council is not endorsing the design or final arrangement of building envelopes of the development as presented in the Master Plan.

What has Council done so far?

A preliminary assessment of the documentation submitted with each of the Planning Proposals has been undertaken and presented to the Ordinary Council Meeting on 19 June 2024 where Council resolved to forward both proposals to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) requesting a Gateway Determination of the Planning Proposal.

A ‘Gateway Determination’ is a preliminary assessment by the Department of each proposal to determine if the proposals can progress to public exhibition, and if so, what conditions need to be met either before or as part of the public exhibition process. In considering this matter Council requested several conditions be imposed before public exhibition commences.

Gateway Determination has been received for the Planning Proposal that relates to 34 Busby Street. Council must now ensure that the relevant conditions of the Gateway Determination are met before public exhibition can commence.

On 14 November 2024, Council received an amended Planning Proposal and amended Master Plan for 34 Busby Street submitted by the applicant. The amendment has resulted in the Height of Buildings control being reduced from 18m to 12m for the majority of the land with the exception of the south-western corner where an 18m apartment building remains to be proposed.

Given that the amended Planning Proposal still proposes changes to the Height of Buildings controls and Land Use Zone, the applicant must proceed to address the conditions as per the Gateway Determination prior to public exhibition.

Importantly, at this stage, Council is NOT endorsing:

• The design of the development of each site.
• The proposed building envelopes that might eventuate to increase building height.
• The resultant residential density.

The reports for the Planning Proposal to the June 2024 Council meeting and the Gateway Determination documents are included in the document library.

How can I make a submission?

Submissions for the 34 Busby Street Planning Proposal will be invited during the public exhibition period which is not expected to commence until later this year/early 2025. If you would like to be notified when the public exhibition commences, please enter your email in the 'Stay Informed' section on this page.