Update: DA - Colombian Hotel - Continuation of 24 hour trading - REFUSED
The City of Sydney has refused the Colombian Hotel's development application for continued 24 hour trading for a further 5 year period. The Council Planning Officer assessing the application cited the high level of incidents which occurred during the previous trial period (49 incidents including 36 alleged assaults) as one of the primary reasons for the refusal. The venue must now revert to its base hours of operation: 10am - 3am daily.
The Council's Safe City Unit were consulted on the application and advised that the venue ranked 7th in the 2008-2009 Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research top 100 ranked licensed premises for assault. The Council's Licensed Premises Unit also noted that there had been three formal complaints lodged with Council in respect of the operation of the hotel. In addition they noted that the hotel had been the subject of five night inspections where issues with noise, security and overcrowding were noted on four of the five occasions.
The NSW Police were also consulted and objected on the basis of the hotel's rating as 'high' on their risk based model, referred to as the Escalated Licensing Operational Response Model.
The City of Sydney's Late Night Trading Development Control Plan is designed to reward good management practices and states that extended trading hours are a privilege, not a right. Any previous trial period which is deemed to have been unsatisfactory will potentially lead to removal of extended trading beyond the base hours, as has been demonstrated with this application.
More information...
- You can read the original article regarding this DA here
- Council's Application Assessment