Katoomba Charrette Outcomes Report - Blue Mountains City Council

Katoomba Charrette Report & Town Centre Strategy
6.2 The Main Shopping, Service and Employment Centre for the Upper
Mountains
Katoomba already plays this role to a large extent, but this role needs to get stronger. While
Katoomba’s shopping attractions should not cause other Upper Mountain towns to wither, Town
Centre shopping should be strengthened by better parking, access, maintenance of premises,
synergies among shops, etc., as detailed in subsequent section of Part II. Too many private and
professional services for the Blue Mountains are actually ‘down the hill’ in the Western Sydney, and
public social services should concentrate better in the heart of Katoomba and become more
accessible. Katoomba is generally behind the other Upper Mountains towns in terms of employment
and value generated per capita. Katoomba can and should ‘lift its game’ in terms of employment and
commercial vitality (see Section 12 for specific proposals).
6.3 A ‘City of the Arts’ on a National Scale
With 54 private galleries, the Blue Mountains is a major arts centre already. Due to its artistic history,
the State has designated Katoomba a “City of the Arts”.
However, it lacks good performing arts facilities, teaching and working artists’ facilities, and a crucial
synergy among the existing cultural assets. Subsequent sections in Part II make specific proposals to
redress these shortcomings.
6.4 Administrative Capital of the Blue Mountains
Katoomba is already the administrative capital of the Blue Mountains, as far as local government is
concerned. However, the City Offices north of the Great Western Highway are relatively cut off from
the Town Centre. As proposed specifically in subsequent sections, other state and federal agencies
may do well to relocate to Katoomba, as well.
6.5 Home to an Enlarged and Diverse Populace
While Katoomba is home to about 10,000 residents, there is considerable capacity in its existing
urban fabric to accommodate many more. Katoomba has more low income people than the other
Upper Mountains towns. While we need to be careful not to displace these important members of the
community, Katoomba needs more middle and higher income earners, who will start their own
businesses, hopefully employ many under-employed existing residents, and spend their disposable
incomes in Katoomba (see Section 12 for details).
The many ‘holes’ in Katoomba’s urban fabric (see Section 4.3.2) offer key opportunities for new mixed
use developments, including residential, close-in to the Town Centre, without impacting on existing
dwellings. Also, many existing dwellings were built to accommodate families, while the average
household size in them is now much smaller than when they were built. Many of those larger houses,
mostly on quite large lots, should be incrementally re-modelled and/or re-developed, in sympathy
with their neighbours and Katoomba’s character. Such developments should be controlled by
regulatory mechanisms that are not in place in the Mountains at this time, such as Victoria’s Good
Design Guide for Medium Density Developments.
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