No decision on Rosedale yet

I guess it is "too big" ~ for small minds. Click on image to enlarge.

How long until the council makes up its mind?

It looks like it will be April, at the earliest, before we know if the Alpine council is going to approve the modifications to a proposed 3-storey retail & accommodation building in the Bright CBD on the site of the former (burnt down) Rosedale guest house. The agenda for the council meeting of Tuesday 2nd March makes no mention of it - or much else for that matter. What exactly are they doing in there?

The developer lodged his revised plans late last year, which were to increase the size of the top floor but to keep to the same height and footprint of the existing planning permit. The application was advertised in January and objections (if any) have well and truly closed. The Bright Framework Committee was consulted on 12 January and there has been plenty of coverage in the local media.

 In my opinion the decision is a no-brainer, as it is only a revision to an existing permit. And the revisions that are proposed are clearly a vast improvement to the profile & aesthetics of what promises to be an exciting development for Bright.

Those opposed to the building simply say it’s “too big”, which is hardly an objective argument, and a quite absurd one when you consider that the building is proposed to be no higher than many existing two-storey buildings in the CBD and even including many houses dotted around the town. They also turn a blind eye to the appeal of having such an attractive landmark building that, in my opinion, may well become a candidate for heritage-listing at some time in the future.

These objectors seem to be the same band of narrow-thinking retrogrades who go around objecting to anything that resembles progress. But how on earth do they propose we develop any real character and sense-of-place in the Bright CBD if we do not allow projects like this one to proceed? What do they want, more tin-sheds like the one just along the road from the Rosedale site? Probably.

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