No 24-hour liquor store for Swiss Grand

Waverley Council has approved an application for redevelopment of the Swiss Grand Hotel on Bondi Beach, on the condition a proposed 24-hour liquor store is not installed in the new complex.

The development will feature a large commercial supermarket and smaller retail outlets in the Swiss Grand, prompting concerns by some local residents about the potential effect on traffic congestion and local business.

President of Friends of Bondi Pavilion, Lenore Kulakauskas, who campaigned to have the development blocked by Council, said amendments made to the original development application (DA) were positive, but not enough.

“The liquor store was knocked out, and that was a good outcome for us. We would have been devastated if that had been allowed to go ahead,” she said.

“But why would you want to put a major supermarket down here? There’s always lots of traffic and there’s always parking problems.”

Ms Kulakauskas also expressed concern about the opening hours of the supermarket, which will be from 6am until midnight, with a one-year trial period during which operating hours will be extended to 1am. Further concerns exist over the impact on street parking and about large delivery trucks driving on Bondi’s busy roads.

Liberal Councillor Leon Goltsman said the community’s concerns had been addressed in the DA’s amendments. As well as blocking approval of a liquor store and 24-hour operation, Council has asked for a management plan to ensure shopping trolleys do not leave the premises and have disallowed the use of large, external advertising signage.

“We’ve listened to the residents’ demands and there’s been a lot of changes that we’ve made in order to accommodate that,” Mr Goltsman said.

Mr Goltsman said the development will be healthy for competition and a positive step for small businesses.

“There were a lot of people in the Bondi markets that were against it saying that it’s going to kill the businesses, but it’s actually done them a favour. I think we’re going to have more niche businesses pop up, with people specialising in other areas which normally they wouldn’t [specialise in],” he said.

Labor Councillor John Wakefield voted against the DA and said it will have a negative social impact by augmenting traffic congestion and parking space issues, leading to unfair competition for local businesses.

“It will undermine the local shopping areas … It will undermine their viability and concentrate the economic expenditure that occurs in Bondi into one building,” he said.

“I’ve got no problem with competition per se, but we’re not dealing with normal competition here.”

Bondi Junction local Danielle Ecuyer said the Swiss Grand development is part of a trend she has seen develop across the Waverley Council area.

“As an observer of the whole [local government area], it looks as though areas that used to have more stores, more operators, a nice residential village feel, are being dramatically expanded. I think for long-term residents there’s this constant feel of encroachment by the major developers, the big business, that the residents are getting squeezed out,” she said.

By Will Mumford