The early work for a bar or restaurant within the Corrimal Coke Works site is on the cards.
Developer Legacy has lodged plans for the heritage plaza - which will run along the eastern end of the site parallel to Corrimal station - with Wollongong City Council.
The heritage plaza includes the retention of a battery of coke ovens, rail lines, a brick chimney stack and fine coal bins.
Work will need to be done on these heritage items to ensure their structural integrity.
The work in the plaza would also see the repurposing of the powerhouse, which the developer had previously suggested could become a restaurant or brewery bar.
"The existing powerhouse building is to be retained and adapted, including the installation of new metal sheet cladding, insulation, steel framed windows to match the existing windows and masonry infill," the statement of environmental effects said.
The extent of this development application is limited to early works to clean up the powerhouse rather than any sort of restaurant fit-out, which will form a future application.
"The heritage plaza will deliver high-quality, publicly accessible open spaces that provide an interface and connectivity between the wider urban renewal of the Corrimal Coke Works and the Corrimal railway station," the statement of environmental effects said.
"The proposal will deliver an attractive and comfortable public domain for the community that will be activated by future neighbourhood-scale retail and commercial land uses."
A traffic study pushed back at the Wollongong's Development Control Plan (DCP) requirement of 13 parking spaces for a restaurant of the size proposed for the plaza.
Instead, the study stated, the plan was for patrons to use on-street parking within the coke works site and train station car park.
"It should also be noted that compared to other commercial uses within the Corrimal Coke Works site, trips to the heritage plaza alone are unlikely, with visitors expected to use additional aspects of the development, such as visiting residents or other shops," the traffic study stated.
"It is therefore considered that the 13 parking spaces required by the DCP is not consistent with the nature of the proposal."
It also claimed the traffic generation associated with any future use of the powerhouse would be "negligible".
The development application is on public exhibition until November 16.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
