Residents object move to build hotel

THERE have been strong objections from residents to a proposal to convert a property on Percy Osborn Road into a three-storey hotel.

Residents, who attended a meeting organised by councillor Martin Meyer to discuss the plans to convert the property at 298 Percy Osborn Road into a hotel, raised a number of concerns, one of which is that the development will have a negative affect on the area.

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“The developer had a representative attend the meeting to put forward their case. He said it was not going to be a low budget hotel and that prices would be around R700 per night which actually does fall in the low budget range. They said it is a hotel and will encourage tourism and promised, in front of residents present, that they were going to send the plans to me as soon as possible, however a week later I still have not received the plans,” said Meyer.

Amafa Heritage approached Save Our Berea for comment on the heritage value of the building currently on the site after the owner applied for a permit to demolish the house to build the proposed ‘Formula One-type’ hotel.

Cheryl Johnson and Kevin Dunkley from Save Our Berea inspected the property and said it would be a shame to lose the existing building.

“Even though it has not been identified as a heritage resource by Prof Kearney, neither has City Architecture judged it of heritage value, we would like to see it retained and restored.

We are more concerned about what will replace it. It could be that the neighbourhood is negatively affected by a hotel on this site even though Town Planning has cleared the proposal without any restrictions,” they said.

Johnson and Dunkley said they were also concerned that Town Planning only applied a 50m radius consultation, rather than the wider 100m radius, before granting approval.

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They believe more residents should have been made aware of the application and proposal.

They said residents should have had sight of the plans, been able to discuss the proposal as a community, and should they have wished to object, had enough time in which to send in their objections.

“The feeling from the residents is that they aren’t very happy and there are various concerns, from prostitution, traffic and the impact on the area, as well as residents’ views which could be affected. I feel if this is a low budget hotel, with pay by hour rooms, it will ruin the area. The Station Drive precinct is taking off and there is a hope for revitalisation of the lower Morningside area, and I fear an unnamed budget hotel will have a negative impact on that,” said Meyer.

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