Lai See | Hopewell planning application angers Kennedy Road residents

Kennedy Road residents are up in arms over Hopewell Holdings' latest planning application, which they say seeks to unravel a deal struck with the government in 2008.

Gordon Wu Ying-sheung, the chairman of Hopewell, agreed in 2008 to reduce the size of the 93-storey hotel he was proposing to build to 55 storeys in exchange for a land swap agreement. He also dropped the massive "wall block" design of the building in favour of a "Y-shaped" building and scrapped the significant facilities he had proposed.

Kennedy Road residents had fought his plans for more than 10 years because access to this monster development was to be through Kennedy Road. At various stages before 2004, Hopewell had sought permission from the Town Planning Board for convention and exhibition facilities but the board rejected them. One of the reasons was Kennedy Road is a residential area and is not suited to the surge in traffic that would accompany the facilities. The Transport Department also opposed it for this reason.

So it was with some dismay that residents recently learnt that despite having struck this landmark deal with the government in 2008, Hopewell has quietly submitted an application to the Town Planning Board recently which intends to reintroduce the "wall block" design and add a massive podium with a large 1,500-seat convention theatre together with 50,000 sq ft of additional facilities. These are the very facilities that were strenuously opposed by residents and rejected by the board in 2004 and 2005.

The recent application represents a major change to the original proposals but Hopewell is trying to slip these through the board as "minor refinements and enhancements". The application also refers to the changes as hotel-related convention facilities.

Opponents say the convention and exhibition facilities are so extensive that it is inappropriate to consider them hotel-related. They say under the terms of the Comprehensive Redevelopment Area, convention and exhibition facilities are not allowed. If Hopewell wants a convention centre, then they argue it should make a rezoning application for a convention and exhibition centre, which is a much longer process.