Toga’s plans will kill village

Watch the devil at work.

Toga’s two-level shopping arcade has become “a laneway,” while their 113-room hotel and 24 luxury flats tower becomes “something refreshing and exciting that will really contribute to the village feel”.

The truth is exactly the opposite: this ill-conceived project would devastate a vibrant village community.

When Hakoah’s well-connected board sold a rare concession, granted to the local Jewish community by Waverley Council, they gave little thought to these consequences.

But as their beloved club “ceases to trade”, members of the club are already paying for their folly.

“Hakoah’s wealth has increased, not declined,” argues embattled Hakoah president Phil Filler, but community wealth lies not in the bank but in the lives of its people.

And Bondi’s wider community would pay dearly, starting with three years of demolition, excavation, and building. Because, instead of recycling the building as other developers have done, Toga wants to totally demolish this massive reinforced concrete structure, plus three adjoining blocks of flats.

Many local businesses just wouldn’t survive. How “refreshing” is that?

Wait for the 24-hour operation of this massive hotel with large numbers of tourists all year round.

Bus loads of drunken conference delegates coming back at 2am; taxi doors slamming at 3am so guests can catch 6am flights. More cars in streets where there is not enough space today. Laundry, restaurant and shop deliveries clogging already clogged roads. Plus the waste generated by this density of operation.

Exciting? You bet! Goodbye to our hardware store, goodbye to our bookshop and goodbye to our friendly small coffee shops. Goodbye Vinnies, hello Valentino.

Residents would flee in droves, selling to property developers to demolish, and build mini-Togas. It’s exactly what residential village Bondi has avoided.

In 2006, Waverley Council and the State Government approved a Development Control Plan that very clearly defined Hall Street as a village: a small, local community, deliberately different from Campbell Parade, which is where Toga’s hotel belongs.

The only reason Toga wants to put it in Hall Street is because Campbell Parade has become too expensive.

The Hakoah building is certainly not a great building, but this proposal is a total nightmare for everyone -except Toga and the Hakoah Board.

There is nothing – nothing! – about a 113-room hotel and a tower of 34 luxury apartments that will “enhance the village feel of Hall Street”.

And, as in Double Bay, the community is demanding that the authorities ensure the village planning codes are honoured.

Rally against Toga’s proposals at 11am on Saturday, October 17, at Hall Street Village.

Information: www.tinyurl.com/HallStVillage

– By Paul Paech