Bega Valley Shire Council voted yesterday afternoon to approve a development application for the 108-year-old Hotel Australasia in Eden.
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That approval spells the end for the pub known locally as The Pit, and viewed by many in the small community as Eden’s heart and soul.
The Development Application by Great Southern Developments proposes to demolish the pub and build a third supermarket for Eden in its stead.
When that DA came before Council at its December 18, 2013 meeting, Councillors rejected the application, having been swayed by a strong community campaign to retain at least the façade of the historic pub, and seek heritage listing for it.
The developer took its case to the Land and Environment Court, who sought to broker a resolution between the parties most recently at its site meeting in the pub on July 10, 2014.
Yesterday’s decision indicates that the developer Rodney Thompson has been successful in fighting Council’s December 18, 2013 decision to reject his DA.
It is understood that Council has amassed legal fees in the tens of thousands to fight the case in the Land and Environment Court, and should they have continued the fight with the developer, would have incurred many more thousands in legal and other professional costs.
COMING: Community reacts.