Business stays ‘residential’

Press, 30 November 1982, Page 14

Business stays ‘residential’

A hardware, paint and garden supplies business in Colombo Street, Sydenham, will remain under residential zoning after a Planning Tribunal appeal decision.

Mr T. M. B. Ayson had sought commercial zoning for buildings occupied by his business, near the Southampton Street junction.

The property at 240 and 242 Colombo Street has been used for retailing for more than 60 years. The property at 236 Colombo Street has a brick house which is used for storage and displaying stock. Retail and commercial land uses exist on the,eastern side of Colombo Street, north of Southampton Street, and on the western side opposite Mr Ayson’s business. The district scheme is trying to reduce commercial ribbon development along Colombo Street, and commercial zoning of properties

has been limited to selected shopping centres. The appellant said that his properties had been ‘‘picked off arbitrarily,” the tribunal decision said, when they would have been suitable for inclusion in a shopping centre around Southampton Street.

Control of ribbon development could not be achieved quickly. Such development, had happened ‘‘long before town-planning legislation became effective,” the decision said.

Evidence did not support the argument that the properties had been picked off arbitrarily, and they could not realistically form part of a shopping centre without imperilling district scheme objectives. Mr Ayson’s properties have been zoned .residential since the first. district scheme became effective in 1962.