Katoomba Charrette Outcomes Report - Blue Mountains City Council

Katoomba Charrette Report & Town Centre Strategy
13.2.6 Prepare for Blast Off!
Often a Charrette will cause an acceleration of activity for a project site. Almost overnight,
New Lynn was transformed from a virtual development wasteland before its revitalisation
Charrette in April of 1996, to become a major centre of redevelopment in Auckland. Three
years later there are four hundred new medium density dwellings built and approved, and
major changes completed in the Town Centre, including major new commercial buildings, a
new street through the heart of town, a pedestrian bridge over a newly rehabilitated stream,
and a major AMP-owned enclosed shopping mall now having opened itself up to the new street
with active public frontages.
Since the Charrette for Beacon Cove in Port Melbourne in 1992, that 30-hectare infill site has
become the best-selling and most award-winning development project in Victoria, with ninehundred
medium density dwellings and a trendy new mixed use centre at a tram stop on the
waterfront.
For both these Charrette projects, benefits to their areas, market performance and developer
profits have far outstripped everyone’s expectations. Katoomba could well be similar. Get
ready to ride a big wave of revitalisation activity in Katoomba. Riding that wave will not be
easy; it will bring many unexpected challenges and opportunities, with much at stake.
13.3 Recommendations to Optimise Progress
13.3.1 Introduction
Section 15 of this Report gives a more complete explanation of project prioritisation and
phasing. This section notes only a few key initiatives, which we see as crucial to address early,
before some other needed projects can move forward.
13.3.2 Catalyst Initiatives
Facade Improvement Program
The proposed historic building facade improvement program (Section 7.3.1) costs relatively
little and yields conspicuous improvements to Katoomba’s image. This project is already
underway, thankfully, and should be accelerated.
Implement The Integrated Shuttle Bus Route
It is important, as soon as possible, to integrate the public bus shuttle system, directly to
connect all key visitor destinations. This will decisively strengthen Katoomba’s link with Echo
Point, in particular, to deliver more tourism benefits to Katoomba and to relieve parking
impacts on Echo Point. It will boost business prospects for the Top End of Town.
Raze the Peripheral Old TAFE Buildings and Provide Temporary Car Parking
This initiative is explained in Section 8.8.9. To remove the derelict low-rise buildings near the
Old TAFE Building will also help to remove a key blight in the heart of town. The northern
portion of the site should be cleared, paved and opened for temporary car parking with good
night lighting to support the Top End of Town and the new integrated shuttle bus system. The
existing toilet block should be retained and refurbished. Communicate that this is a short-
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