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Vines, sunken garden, cobblestone maze pathway and sandstone log seats for new Prince Street park
June 18, 2022
By Peter Holmes
Orange City Council will “take responsibility” for a new park between the townhouses and apartments on the site at 103 Prince Street, according to documents for the development put on display yesterday.
A raft of documents, including artist’s impressions of the proposed development, building materials to be used, how the buildings cast shadows, and landscaping of the public park area have been put on exhibition.
Community members now have one month to view the plans and make comments to council.
The park area would have bench seats, steel and wire mesh to carry vines, “mass planting” with a large feature tree and cobblestone paving to form a maze path.
There would also be sandstone log retaining walls to accommodate a slope down into a sunken garden, and sandstone log seats to “provide informal seating and play opportunities”.
“As part of the project, a proposed planning agreement will see Orange City Council take ownership of the park area once it has been established,” stated council.
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The design of the outdoor area followed a survey of parks within a 1km radius of the site.
“It was decided that the open space for the development was to reflect the other, more traditional parks that occur within Central Orange (i.e. Cook Park and Robertson Park),” the development proposal states.
“This was done by determining what key elements are contained within these parks … and reinterpret them in a modern way. The aim of this approach is to reflect the values of today (e.g. a more relaxed approach to living but a desire for greater sophistication) and create a contemporary park, but one that is complementary to the others.”
The inclusion of large, deciduous trees “will generally add to the preferred landscape character of Orange”, it states.
Orange City Council has received a development application from the Dubbo-based Maas Group for the proposed project.
It includes 17 two-storey townhouses, a five-storey apartment building containing 63 apartments, basement parking for 138 cars and a public park between the two buildings.
“This is a first for Orange,” mayor Jason Hamling said.
“It’s the first time a proposal for a large, multi-storey apartment block has been put forward and I’m hoping residents take the time to find out more about it, and think about making a submission if they wish,” Cr Jason Hamling said.
There is currently is a 16-metre height limit over part of the site.
“The proposal seeks permission to increase this limit to 20.25 metres over part of the apartment building,” council stated.
While Orange City Council is dealing with the public exhibition of the DA, the consideration of the approval for the project will be handled by the Western Regional Planning Panel (WRPP).
The WRRP will consider the DA because the value of the project is more than the WRRP project threshold of $5 million.
Orange City Council and Maas Group have entered an agreement for the sale of the site. Council stated this “will soon be finalised”.
Until the sale is finalised the WRRP is the consent authority, council said.
The Orange News Examiner revealed on June 7 that a display apartment for the project would open on Summer Street next to the Commonwealth Bank in July.
Project documents are available on the YourSay Orange website and Orange City Council is organising a public information session to be held on Tuesday June 28, 2022 at 6pm in the Council Chambers.
The deadline for comments from the community is 5pm on Monday July 18, 2022.
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