Name:______

Address______

______

Lake Macquarie City Council

Box 1906

Hunter Region Mail Centre

NSW 2310

Attention: Brian Gibson

RE: DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL, INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT

DP 1194707

JETTY MASTER’S COTTAGE

15 HALE STREET, CATHERINE HILL BAY NSW,2281

I objectto Coastal Hamlets Pty Ltd.’sdevelopment proposal for 15 Hale Street, Catherine Hill Bay.

Specific reasons for my objection are:

  1. The proposed dwellingis excessive in size - it is FOUR times larger the footprint of the former Jetty Master’s Cottage.
  1. Such a large building will severely detract from the heritage values of Catherine Hill Bay.
  1. The proposed dwelling is totally out of scale with the modest cottages that characterise Catherine Hill Bay. The proposed dwelling has three gables and as there has never been a three gabled house in Catherine Hill Bay this will introduce a new element into the built form.
  1. The proposed dwelling will destroy the integrity and intactness of the built environment, industrial infrastructure landscape and seascape that led to the listing of Catherine Hill Bay on the NSW State Heritage Register, only the second town in NSW to have achieved this standing.
  1. The proposed dwelling if approved willbecome themost visually dominant building on the headland drawing the eye from the Mine Manager’s House. These dwellings are intrinsic to the company town and identify the essential dynamic between “manager’s and worker’s housing”. Historically, the Mine Manager’s House was the grandest houseand was located in a prime position overlooking the jetty, train line and the workers’ houses. Given the scale of the proposed dwelling this dynamic will be reversed.

This area represents some of the most significant areas within the Catherine Hill Bay Conservation Area in terms of the expression of the Company Town presence, its social and importantly its hierarchical built form.

  1. Inadequate and misleading Heritage Impact Study prepared by I McCaig on behalf of Coastal Hamlets Pty Ltd:
  • Thesite is in an area of high visibility yet no visual analysis from the north, west, east or south demonstrating the impact this proposed dwelling will have on the village and heritage footprint is provided.
  • Identifies the former Pay Office incorrectly as the Jetty Master’s House.
  • Claims the three Norfolk Island Pines will screen the new dwellingwhen two of these trees did not survive the October 2013 bushfire. Also, this pine only slightly screens the northern end of the proposed dwelling; it does not screen the dwelling from the historical village.
  • No arborist’s report.
  1. Inadequate and misleading Report and Statement of Environmental Effects Accompanying Development Application prepared by I. McCaig on behalf of Coastal Hamlets Pty Ltd
  • Asserts the proposed dwelling will be a “reconstruction” of the Jetty Master’s cottage yet it is FOUR times larger.
  • Asserts that the proposed dwelling will be a” reconstruction” yet there are three gables; the former Jetty Master’s Cottage had only one gable.
  • Confuses curtilage with footprint so as to assert the proposed dwelling is a permitted use.

8. No Aboriginal Heritage Impact Study

9. Does not conform to Heritage Office requirements that any new building must have thesame footprint as that of the previous Jetty Master’s cottage which was destroyed in the October 2013 bushfire.

On these grounds this development proposal must be rejected.

Yours faithfully

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