Katoomba Charrette Outcomes Report - Blue Mountains City Council

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Katoomba Charrette Report & Town Centre Strategy Copy of the printed Charrette Program 4. KATOOMBA’S CONTEXT: INTER-LOCKING ASSETS & PROBLEMS 4.1 Introduction to this Section In order to propose solutions to Katoomba’s problems and to capitalise on Katoomba’s potential, the Charrette Team and stakeholders needed firstly to understand them. Through the Charrette process a complex but reasonably focussed picture emerged of Katoomba, a town blessed with potential but plagued with inter-locking problems, explained here as Katoomba’s ‘Inter-locking Assets and Problems’ which informed the Charrette Proposals. ‘Inter-locking’ is the right word to describe both Katoomba’s problems and the solutions required to solve them. Although explained one at a time, the following questions and challenges are functionally inter-locking and, if Katoomba’s revitalisation is to succeed, the initiatives pursued and how they are implemented must be just as strongly linked together. These inter-locking challenges can be grouped into several inter-dependent categories, which have formed the contents of this chapter. We found that a fundamental problem was how the public reported they were generally feeling about Katoomba. While showing great potential, the urban structure was found to be holding Katoomba back, as well. We have organised these urban structure problems into ‘holes, barriers and bypasses’. The public realm did not feel or function as well as it perhaps could and should. By ‘public realm’ we mean the appearance of the Town Centre, and what it has to offer, including civic activities and public spaces. Katoomba’s economy was found to be limping a bit. To some extent, urban run-off was found to be degrading parts of Katoomba’s natural 10
Katoomba Charrette Report & Town Centre Strategy beauty. The weather, albeit spectacular, was reportedly more a problem than an asset being capitalised upon. 4.2 General Public Opinion In Katoomba: Deep Care, But Frustration & Uncertainty 4.2.1 Deep Care, But also Frustration and Uncertainty Katoomba is blessed by a citizenry who generally care deeply for it. However, some of them have trouble taking pride in Katoomba’s Town Centre because of the problems explained below, such as its ‘down-at-heel’ appearance. Many citizens have been frustrated with seemingly intractable problems such as the long-term closure of the Savoy Theatre and ongoing decline of so many businesses. They report it is sometimes hard to commit wholeheartedly to the place, when there are so many ‘unknowns’ potentially beyond their control, such as the mooted ‘Gateway Shopping Centre’ at the north end of Parke Street or seemingly on-going threats of multi-national drive-through fast food outlets dominate and/or blight the town entry. 4.2.2 Some Traders Discouraged, Many with Dwindling Business Prospects Since Katoomba’s heyday before the Second World War, Katoomba has been declining. There has come the gradual dominance of car and bus visitation to Echo Point over primarily train visitation which focussed on both the Town and Echo Point. The closure of the Katoomba Street on-grade railway crossing and its replacement with Yeoman’s Bridge have made access to the heart of town far less direct; drivers generally bypass Katoomba Street in favour of Parke or Lurline Streets. The Coles supermarket development with its easy Parke Street access further cemented this bypassing of the heart of town, effectively stranding many businesses on Katoomba and Main Streets. Struggling shop tenants have trouble finding time and money to maintain their buildings, and stagnating rents also discourage owners from maintaining their premises. With little hope in sight, these difficulties have become a vicious cycle, with tattered buildings and struggling businesses unintentionally dragging down their neighbours. 4.2.3 Regulations May Jeopardise Town Centre Viability Despite the best of intentions, some regulations governing how the Town Centre functions and develops may be hampering its vitality. On-site parking requirements seem to be keeping small properties with existing buildings on them from re-modeling, expanding their floor areas or uses, or re-developing. On-site parking requirements have also stalled out the revival of the Savoy. While parking is vital, the requirements seem to be choking progress; they do not seem to suit the Town Centre context very well. Present regulations seem to allow multi-national fast food drive-through at least to make development proposals, which might compromise the character of the town entry and, inappropriately located and designed, jeopardise the viability of competing existing businesses in the heart of town. The Development Control Plans for the Town Centre are topical, and not place-based. The regulations have allowed developments to be constructed, which damage the pedestrian and 11
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