Significantly altered plans for a controversial hotel tower in Wyong have been re-submitted, after being rejected by the region's planning panel last year.
Mercure has lodged the new $84 million plans for the project, which is the grand jewel in the redevelopment of Kooindah Waters' Resort, with the Central Coast Council.
Three three storeys have been shaved off the development, while the number of hotel rooms and residential apartments have been reduced in response to the concerns raised by the joint Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel.
In mid-2023, the panel cited more than 20 reasons for the project's rejection.
First and foremost was that the tower had too many residential apartments for a tourism-zoned development.
In the revised plan, the total number of apartments has been reduced by 32, with hotel rooms dropping from 97 to 80 and residential dwellings cut from 98 to 83.
The new development will only be 23-storeys high, instead of 26, to counter the planning panel's concern that the tower was too big for the nearby neighbourhood, which would be "overlooked and overshadowed" by the development.
The panel also claimed it was "out of context" for the Central Coast region in general, with the tallest buildings in nearby Wyong only five storeys and the tallest buildings in Gosford's city centre standing at 15 storeys.
"The proposal is not reflective of the desired future character of the immediate locality and surrounding area," the panel stated.
However, the developer rejected the claim, pointing out the Central Coast has been identified as a significant future growth area, and buildings taller than 15 storeys had commenced construction in Gosford.
The panel also says the original application didn't satisfy planning requirements around traffic, flooding, heritage, soil, airspace operation, while parts of the submissions "did not contain sufficient information to enable a proper assessment".
The resubmitted plans, which are currently on public exhibition, claim to address all the panel's concerns.
Hunter Means Business is a weekly column proudly flying the flag for the region's economic sector. Got a tip? Email jamieson.murphy@newcastleherald.com.au
