The University of Wollongong’s high-rise postgraduate accommodation block proposed for Northfields Avenue should be approved by the regional planning body, according to Wollongong City Council.
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In a recommendation to the Joint Regional Planning Panel, which will meet next week, council officers say the 261-bed tower should be given the green light, despite residents’ concerns that the building does not suit the leafy streetscape or provide enough parking.
Gwynneville and Keiraville residents raised concerns about the small number of parking spaces provided, saying the proposal could turn their streets into a permanent student car park.
The university will build 34 on-site residential spaces for the 261 residents, along with seven visitor spots, one ‘‘share car’’, 25 off-site residential spaces at the Innovation Campus – a 3.6kilometre drive away – and 86 bicycle spaces.
In submissions, residents said the surrounding streets were already too crowded and narrow for more cars, and believed the low number of car spaces at the new building would exacerbate the problem.
Other critics said the building would be too high and out of character with other three and four-storey university buildings, while some people worried it would overshadow the botanic garden and affect views of the escarpment.
However, council staff believed the university had addressed these concerns through the building’s design, and a continued commitment to an overall transport strategy which focused on public transport.
They also accepted the university’s research which said postgraduate students were less inclined to use cars than other students living on campus.
‘‘It is considered that car parking provision...at the rate of one space per 4.4 beds is appropriate as [it] relates to submitted postgraduate students’ car ownership data,’’ the council’s assessment report says.
‘‘It is also considered the proposal is not out of context in the university precinct...’’
The accommodation complex – known as Northfields – is one of two currently in the works, with another 800-bed block planned for the other end of the street.
The two buildings are part of a wider long-term plan to transform the university’s entryway, which would have high-rise academic and research centres, as well as better retail and commercial facilities.
IRT’s seniors living complex will also be considered at Friday’s JRPP meeting, after a decision on the Stewart Street development was deferred in March.
The panel meets at 1pm on May 8 in the Council building.
