Three years and three days after council voted in secret to demolish the Wayzgoose cafe building in Leura, it has been saved.
On Monday night (December 10), a planning panel gave the go-ahead for a refurbishment and restoration that retains most of the 100-plus old building’s historic heritage features.
Wayzgoose cafe owner, Mark Alchin, addressed the hearing, admitting the fight had been “very draining to me personally in terms of time, finances, my emotional damage and health”.
He revealed that he had spent more than $100,000 on the case. This included a considerable amount for a report from Australia’s foremost heritage experts, Lucas Stapleton Johnson.
“This building was saved by dint of a heritage report that I commissioned and paid for,” he said. “I paid for it. Council then adopted it without any comment or contact with me. Later on they used it as their basis for the decision to … keep the building.
“That is something that I will always claim the credit for.”
The saga began in mid-2015 when the Circus shop moved out from the other side of the Wayzgoose building. A council inspection of the empty space revealed considerable deterioration and damage.
Mr Alchin was given notice to quit but decided to challenge council to save Leura’s oldest commercial building and to save his business.
“Had I not fought this battle ... this building would have been demolished two years ago,” he said.
After a public outcry, council backed down on demolition and instead had a development application prepared.
It was submitted in December 2016 but attracted enormous criticism, with 185 submissions and a petition of more than 10,000 signatures.
An amended DA was prepared but it was rejected in February this year by an independent hearing and assessment panel.
Finally, the third version has been approved.
The mayor, Mark Greenhill, said: “I am so glad council’s submission, that was before the independent panel, was upheld.
“A majority of the councillors referred the application to an independent panel so that a decision based purely on the merits of the case could be made.
“It is true the council reconsidered its original position so that the building, which is owned by council, will now be preserved. This decision was based on the merits of the evolving information put before us.
“I am pleased that our final, and better, submission was approved by the independent process we put in place.”
Head of the panel, planning lawyer Mary Lynne-Taylor, noted the occasion: “So ladies and gentlemen, we are very pleased to be the panel that reports back to the community that this application is approved, the heritage item is saved, a new era will move on.”
She particularly thanked Mr Alchin: “Mr Alchin, we can’t give you the keys. We would love to do so and we wish you well. Thanks very much for coming and for all of your efforts in this matter."
Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill said he was “so glad council’s submission, that was before the independent panel, was upheld”.
“A majority of the councillors referred the application to an independent panel so that a decision based purely on the merits of the case could be made.
“It is true the council reconsidered it’s original position so that the building, which is owned by council, will now be preserved.
“This decision was based on the merits of the evolving information put before us.
“I am pleased that our final, and better, submission was approved by the independent process we put in place.”
As at February this year, the Wayzgoose saga had cost council more than $450,000, including lost rental revenue and legal costs. That was on top of the $813,361 cost of redeveloping it.
