Orange City Council has welcomed the decision by the Western Regional Planning Panel (WRPP) to give planning approval to Orange's first medium-rise apartment block.
The apartments at 103 Prince Street are set to be built on the western end of the site of the former Orange Base Hospital, next door to the DPIE head office.
Orange Mayor Jason Hamling has welcomed the decision.
"Orange is a growing regional city and this building breaks new ground for medium-rise apartment living," Cr Jason Hamling said. "As a city we need to be growing up and as well as out, and I'm hoping this project will pioneer a new approach for other developers to follow."
"Both Council and the WRPP had concerns about the developer's first set of building plans, but they've been willing to come back with modifications that will ensure these new apartments make a big contribution to the local neighbourhood. Council supported the latest design and I'm pleased the WRPP has now given its approval."
The new complex includes 16 two-storey townhouses on Dalton Street and a six-storey building, containing 60 apartments, on Prince Street. The project includes a 2,400-square-metre public park in the centre of the block which will be built by the developer and then handed over to Orange City Council.
Orange City Council Planning and Development Committee Chair Cr Jeff Whitton says the planning permission decision is the latest step in a long journey.
"Apartment living is already very popular in many regional cities but it's always a challenge for a local developer to be the first," Cr Jeff Whitton said.
"Rather than simply sell off the vacant land to a developer after the hospital was demolished, Orange City Council has put the work in to give the site its own specific Development Control Plan. It was that DCP which let developers try something new with five or six storeys, flanked by open parkland."
The 103 Prince Street project will be built by the Dubbo-based MAAS Group.
