Council’s decision on whether the application for a five-storey, 31-room hotel on Peter Street, filed by the current owners of St Hugh’s Hotel, HTZ Investments Pty Ltd, has been deferred. Photo: HTZ Investments Pty Ltd.
Wagga Wagga City Council has elected to defer its decision on the development of a five-storey hotel on Peter Street, with Mayor Dallas Tout forced to use his deciding vote following a split council.
The development application (DA) was originally brought in front of council following the applicant HTZ Investments Pty Ltd’s request to reduce the number of carparks within the development by a factor greater than 10 per cent of the original plans.
Filed in May 2025, the original DA detailed 12 parking spaces on the bottom floor of the hotel. However, the developers have requested to remove at least two spaces due to what they believe to be adequate public parking around the planned site at 91 Peter Street.
Community member Anne Sefton also argued the plans for the hotel breached the city’s development control plan (DCP), which states buildings above three storeys are required to have a setback line for every additional storey above the third floor, to allow the heritage facade to sit proud.
“The proposed proposal provides a five-storey street wall with no setbacks, maintaining a uniform building line,” Ms Sefton argued.
“The DCP objective seeks to retain the close built character derived from the early 20th century.
“This non-compliance is justified in the planning report by reference to zoning height limits and future character, rather than addressing the specific control and its objectives.
“Approval in its current form would undermine the effectiveness of the DCP and set a precedent for tall, unarticulated buildings without setbacks.”
Upon hearing Ms Sefton’s arguments, councillor Richard Foley put forward an amendment to defer the decision on the DA until council could better understand the issues it presented.
“I believe this decision needs to be deferred for a few reasons,” Cr Foley said.
“I’m not saying for or against at any level at this stage of the development, but this is a significant matter that’s going to determine what happens in the street and the way it goes forward, and it needs to be done right the first time if it goes forward.
“Furthermore, just as a general rule of situation, I and I’m pretty sure most of the other councillors have only received this information very late last week.
Cr Foley said more time was needed to assess the proposal and “ask questions of staff through the appropriate channels” before he could make a decision.
Councillors Jenny McKinnon and Amelia Parkins argued a deferral would do little to change the actual application, which, aside from its parking, met all of the requirements for approval.
“Whether we like the timing or the location of this development is not what we’re here to decide,” Cr Parkins said.
“This goes back to what I say at nearly every DA that comes before council, our job here in this agenda item is to be the consent authority.
“If it were up to me, we would put off determining this development application until we had the CBD Master Plan finalised and those recommendations incorporated into our development control plan, but we don’t have that at the moment, and we don’t have the legal power to turn around and say to a developer, please come back when we’ve got our policy ducks in a row.
“My reading of the report is that the main and only non-compliance is car parking. I also cannot remember any development application within the CBD in the last two terms that I’ve been on council that has complied with parking, and council has approved all of those applications.”
Despite Cr Parkin’s stance, council was split on whether to defer the decision, with Crs Parkins, McKinnon, Karissa Subedi and Lindsay Tanner voting against the deferral and Crs Michael Henderson, Allana Condron, Foley and Tout voting in favour of the deferral.
Cr Tout used his casting vote to ultimately have the matter deferred to a future meeting.
