A MAJOR commercial and residential development on Marine Drive at Tea Gardens has finally been given the go ahead, but the good news for the local community is that changes have been made and the façade of the historic Universal Store will be incorporated into it.
This follows lengthy and ongoing negotiations between the developer, a local residents' group and Great Lakes Council over several months.
The development will run between Marine Drive and Myall Street and will contain commercial space and 33 dwellings.
Negotiations with the developer resulted in two apartments being deleted and the height of the building lowered in some sections.
The section of the development adjacent to the residential area is now two storeys in height and a story under the roofline has been removed from the Myall Street building.
Before the council voted on the project last week, local resident Kevin Haskew told members that residents of Tea Gardens had never expected what was there now to remain forever.
He said that while the amended proposal before the council was far superior to what was first mooted, the community continued to place value on its small village character.
The Marine Drive project has taken almost six years to gain approval.
The Universal Store, which has links to the area's pioneering Engel family, was approved for demolition on October 16, 2002.
At the time, the building was not listed on the State Heritage Register or on the Great Lakes Local Environment Plan and, consequently, no assessment was carried out to determine the heritage significance of the building.
As well, the Great Lakes Heritage Study had not started.
During 2003 and 2004 the council prepared a draft heritage study which identified the Universal Store as a significant local item.
An interim heritage order was placed on it late last year but by this stage the consent to demolish the building had already been granted.
In a report to the council last year its heritage adviser, Garry Smith, said that the store was the only "modern" brick retail building remaining in Tea Gardens.
It was historically significant because it recorded a past way of trading when enterprising business people could establish large, multi-faceted shops supplying a range of goods.
Changing demographic patterns, land use and transport methods had caused many of these "universal providers" to close or be converted to other businesses.
Progress on the approval was delayed several months because of ongoing opposition to the project from the local community.
Ms Dawn Engel, who is connected to the pioneering family, led the battle to save the store.
She told Great Lakes Council in July that the developer had used the old store as a bargaining tool for a five storey building of massive bulk which would be completely unsympathetic to the Tea Gardens character and have significant negative impacts on the community, the store itself, the adjoining low density residential area and the visual amenity of the streetscapes of Marine Drive and Myall Street.
She said this was never the community's preferred option in saving the old building's heritage integrity but understood the need for compromise.
The developer told the council that it had always endeavoured to be responsive to community concerns regarding the project.
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