Katoomba Charrette Outcomes Report - Blue Mountains City Council

Katoomba Charrette Report & Town Centre Strategy
of the Carrington Lawn with some limited public access, then this City Office plaza may further
become surplus to need, and be more clearly recognised as a ‘hole’ waiting to be partly or
entirely filled with a more vital use.
Renaissance Centre, at the North End of Civic Place
This important site is presently vacant and for lease...another ‘hole’ and a glowing opportunity.
See Section 9.6 for proposals and Section 13 for a report on progress since the Charrette.
4.3.4 Barriers
Katoomba has many ‘barriers’ in its urban fabric, which limit access between its assets and
thereby keep the Town Centre from functioning at its full potential.
The Railway acts as a barrier, and access to Katoomba Street from the highway via the
Yeoman’s Overpass is too indirect, at the expense of businesses along Katoomba Street.
Before the Katoomba Street railway crossing was closed, Katoomba Street had much more
direct and beneficial vehicular access from custom travelling to and from Sydney. The historic
pedestrian underpass at the station is perceived by many as unsafe, especially at night, and the
Yeoman’s Bridge access is too indirect and unappealing for substantial pedestrian use. North
Katoomba is relatively cut off from the heart of Katoomba by the railway. See Section 8 for
proposed solutions to this ‘barrier’.
The ridge, on which Katoomba sits, features spectacular distant views, but limits pedestrian
access and nearby population to support the Town Centre. Ideally for its retail and commercial
viability, a town centre should be surrounded by neighbourhoods whose population would
patronise the town centre, either walking, cycling, taking public transport or driving.
Katoomba has a relatively small adjoining population catchment, with spectacular views from
the cliff edges instead! We cannot do anything about this geographical penalty and blessing.
Nevertheless, it is important to recognise that it acts as a ‘barrier’ to more nearby population
to support the Town, and, therefore, that the available land on the ridge becomes all the more
important, as does access to the Town from nearby towns in the Upper Mountains and from
Sydney. Steepness, too, discourages some from climbing up to the Town Centre by foot or
cycle.
The environmentally constrained land of Katoomba’s northern plateau and its non-urban
zoning limit further population there, which might have supported the Town Centre. The only
undeveloped land on Katoomba’s ridge is the already subdivided land adjoining Katoomba to
its north. However, due to its environmental qualities, that land has been so far determined by
the local community, independent of the Charrette, to be inappropriate to develop, and that it
should stay effectively as a forest ‘barrier’ to future growth in that direction, meaning there can
be no additional population catchment to support the Town Centre from there.
Many of Katoomba’s intersections don’t work well; they impede vehicular access to Katoomba
Street and other destinations, and they are hard for pedestrians to cross. Thus these difficult
intersections act as ‘barriers’ to vehicular and/or pedestrian access to the Town Centre. Traffic
at the Yeoman’s Bridge roundabout backs up during peak hours, and it is hard for pedestrians
to cross it, especially when traffic is heavy. The intersection of Waratah and Katoomba Streets
generates congestion, and pedestrians find it difficult or unsafe in crossing. Frequent
pedestrian crossings at this intersection tend to impede efficient traffic flows; intersection
improvements should work better both for cars and vehicles here. Prior Place intersects as a
one-way street with Katoomba Street, thus acting as a ‘barrier’ to two-way traffic, even though
Prior Place has enough width to accommodate two-way traffic. Readers can find these
17