Katoomba Charrette Outcomes Report - Blue Mountains City Council

Katoomba Charrette Report & Town Centre Strategy
support for improving that one, in the hope that it might attract skateboarders presently using the
Council Offices plaza.
However, the site is presently isolated, hard to access and lacks the exposure that many skateboarders
desire.
The design of the site should be interesting when viewed from above to encourage pedestrians on the
Yeoman’s Bridge and Highway to stop and watch. The design should also incorporate a variety of
types of skateboarding manoeuvres to make it more appealing. Steps (or even a skateboarding ramp)
down from the highway would help the facility, if either could be made to be feasible.
Action 9.4 - Consult with local skateboarders to devise improvements for the present skateboarding
site, and then implement them.
9.5 Gateway Alternate Mixed Use Development
9.5.1 Earlier Gateway Proposal for Supermarket Has Not Proceeded
During the Charrette there was the issue of a supermarket and shopping centre proposal for
the Gateway site at the very strategic corner of Bathurst Road and Parke Street, as explained in
Section 7.8.1 and 7.8.2. Refer to those sections for more details about the site and its context.
While the Gateway supermarket proposal was seen by many stakeholders as not beneficial to
the Town Centre, and alternate more appropriate supermarket locations were encouraged
instead.
However, the Gateway site is very important to the future of the Katoomba, and, in an effort to
deal with the then Gateway proposal, the following Project Design Brief and Alternate Mixed
Use Design were proposed, which are still valid.
The proponents of the Gateway development had reportedly arranged consolidation of the site,
and the design option explained below was designed on that basis. However, since the
Charrette, it has become known that the site is not in fact consolidated, and future
development is likely to be on a site-by-site basis, with the prominent car yard corner site a
key focus.
9.5.2 Site And Its Influences
The Gateway site is well named, as its exposed Parke Street and Bathurst Road frontage
commands the attention of everyone arriving across Yeoman’s Bridge from the Highway. The
site is the assemblage of several parcels including the old fire station, the Antiques Building,
the old Family Hotel, and a holden car lot forming its northern boundary. From the Parke
Street frontage, the sites drops several metres down to its Cascade Street frontage, which
enjoys distant views to the west and southwest of the hills and valley.
The site includes a private gated accessway running from Parke Street to Cascade Street along
its southern boundary with the New TAFE, which is an important potential public connection
between Cascade Street and Parke Street. This accessway also gives access to the interior of
the site, potentially for intra-block and/or underground car parking.
The site contains several historic buildings, fronting Parke Street, and these should be
retained, with new development designed to complement them.
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