Imperial rethinks revamp
Patron numbers at the new-look Imperial Hotel are still in limbo following owner Shadd Danesi’s decision to lodge a fresh development application with the city council.
The City of Sydney granted the hotel, which is undergoing a multi-million dollar refurbishment, a 44 percent increase in patron numbers on a 12-month trial during a meeting marred by embarrassing red tape blunders.
The increase from 306 patrons to 442 does not include the unrestricted front bar, which is not subject to entertainment licence laws.
City of Sydney councillors said they were trying to balance the concerns of residents and the gay and lesbian community in approving the substantially lower than recommended figure.
But they seemed more worried the Land and Environment Court would overturn any efforts to minimise local impact, as it had on each previous Imperial Hotel matter.
Council spent almost an hour trying to calculate what should have been a simple person-to-space ratio consistent with the previous court judgment after Greens Councillor Chris Harris found errors in the City’s advice.
The city’s planning director was forced to admit his staff had presented a series of flawed calculations as successive recommendations to councillors. He later added up his own figure, which was different again. Lord Mayor Clover Moore ordered a recess so the unflattering debate could be held away from public viewing.
When it returned, Independent Councillor Marcelle Hoff spoke forcefully against the majority decision, asking the council to wait until after the venue reopened to see the impact of the current court-determined patron numbers.
Moore reminded residents that new liquor control laws come into effect this week giving the Director of Liquor and Gaming the power to suspend venue licences and issue fines up to $110,000 after three complaints.
Operators are on notice, but I’m not talking about the Imperial specifically, the Lord Mayor said.
We’ve had some very serious issues on Oxford St and in Darlinghurst. But the updated regime provides councils and local communities with new action on problem venues.
After the meeting Danesi told Sydney Star Observer that, rather than pursuing the existing application, he would take on board comments made by councillors and residents and work towards a new development application focusing on safety measures and an art deco high-heeled shoe on top of the building.
Council was so lost to a plausible way to limit my numbers that they’ve created a rule where there wasn’t one. But it’s flawed; the previous numbers were an agreement that council and I took to the Land and Environment Court, Danesi said.
I want to help the local residents by combatting noise, but I can’t do that if I have over a hundred people waiting outside.
The City’s two gay councillors Phillip Black and Shayne Mallard were representing the City in San Francisco.
