LOWER MacDonald’s St Joseph’s Catholic Church has been denied permission to run as a functions centre by the Hawkesbury Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel.
The panel met on June 21, where they unanimously resolved to deny the application to use the historic site as a venue for weddings.
The church was restored by Steve Kavanagh, and was used as a weddings venue, most recently in May, 2017, however, neighbours objected because of the noise and other issues.
The site has been the subject of a number of votes at Hawkesbury Council in recent times. Most recently, Council approved a Conservation Management Plan for the church and surrounds.
The DA was bumped up to the IHAP level, not because of the estimated value, which was only $41,000, but because it received more than 100 submissions, both in favour and opposed to it.
The Hawkesbury IHAP has listed a number of reasons why the site at 1029 St Albans Road, Lower MacDonald, is not suitable for weddings.
Hawkesbury Council staff, who prepared the report for the IHAP members, recommended conditional approval for the DA.
The DA requested an extension of the car park at the site, as well as using it for a function centre.
“The application has been reviewed by Council staff and with the imposition of consent conditions to limit and control problems with the previous operation of the function centre (which had operated without any such development controls), the development is seen to be acceptable and is recommended for conditional approval,” staff wrote in the report.
However, the minutes of the meeting list reasons for refusal as: the DA not meeting part of Hawkesbury Council’s Local Environment Plan and Development Control Plan; parking and safety concerns; and, impacts on the amenity of the area, among other reasons.
The full decision can be viewed here (link is a 284-kb pdf document).
Alison McCabe was the panel chair. David Broyd and Helen Mulcahy were the expert representatives. Graham Edds was the community representative.
