Battery Point Hotel set proposal for July showdown

The next stage in a contentious plan for a $60 million expansion of a heritage-listed Battery Point hotel is expected to play out in July.

The proposal by Lenna of Hobart, which has been in mediation, was listed for an administrative hearing in the Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal yesterday.

Hobart City Council knocked back the development in 2018 and Lenna’s owners Lloyd and Jan Clark subsequently lodged an appeal.

Yesterday, the tribunal decided on a provisional four-day listing of July 27-30 for a full hearing of the appeal.

RMPAT says if those dates are confirmed in the next seven days, the parties would need to exchange evidence that they would rely on, 21 days prior to the hearing starting.

The proposed project features a new eight-storey, six-star “Lenna Courtyard” hotel with 78 boutique and two penthouse suites, four retail stores, two levels of carparking, and a circular driveway drop-off and pick-up point on from Runnymede St.

The original 1874 sandstone building, on the corner of Salamanca and Runnymede St, already features a 1970s extension.

The initial designs for the most recent extension proposal were released in September 2017 and received 90 objections, sending the owners and developers back to the drawing board.

Revised plans including a lower building height were submitted but the council voted 8-3 in December 2018 to refuse the proposal.

A group of concerned Battery Point residents had urged the council to reject the plan, saying it was inappropriate for the area.

This article from The Mercury originally appeared as “Lenna of Hobart Battery Point hotel plan to be examined at Tasmania’s planning tribunal”.