THE lengthy campaign to save the Universal Store at Tea Gardens should reach a conclusion at Great Lakes Council's next ordinary meeting on August 22.
Last week, at council's strategic committee meeting it was resolved to endorse in principle a revised plan to develop the Marine Drive site and refer the development application, along with a list of conditions to the August meeting for determination.
Under the revised plan, which was developed following consultation with council's director of planning and environment Glenn Handford and mayor John Chadban, a three storey building containing 33 dwellings and commercial space will incorporate the facade of the old store.
Cr Chadban said that if the community's prime goal was to get a building without height and bulk then saving the Universal Store would be out.
"We are not in a position to say what it has got to be, all we can do is work on a compromise if we wish to save the store."
"The biggest issue that we had was the building covers two sites of different zoning; one side is low density and the other commercial.
"So it was getting a bit silly to insist on one side being a single storey and allowing the other side to be three storeys. We have tried to work with the developer to design a building that keeps the maritime theme in its architecture with a pitched roof."
Mr Handford said a reduction by two in the number of units and a reduction in overall height of some sections of the building were the main changes to the plan, with the roofline fronting Myall Street now flat and consequently lower.
"When the council first said it wanted to save the Universal Store I said, 'What is council prepared to give in terms of compromise?'," he said.
"With the move to medium density there is always going to be a change in terms of the bulk, scale and height of buildings.
"The people of Tea Gardens are not going to be happy with the plan as it is different to what you have got there now, but it is the changing nature of the town."
Much of the concern over the proposed development has been regarding its height, however with Marine Drive prone to flooding, the residential part of the building must be raised by up to 1.2 metres, resulting in a building that, once the pitched roof is taken into account, is closer to five storeys than three.
At council's July meeting Tea Gardens residents Dawn Engel and Ian Morphett expressed their concerns and those of 147 local objectors.
Mrs Engel told the council that the developers 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.
In response to the claims, the project's coordinator George Pearson said that the developers had always tried to meet the objections of the community and had incorporated the old store into the project at considerable cost.
The Universal Store had an interim heritage order placed on it late last year but the owner claims existing use rights for the development and has consent to demolish the building.
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