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PAGE 5 19 AUGUST 2021
Petition calls on minister to reject waterfront rezoning Community group Residents for Responsible Ettalong Development (RRED) say Ettalong is under attack from high rise buildings. The group is urging residents to sign a petition against rezoning a foreshore area which would allow five-storey buildings instead of the current three storeys, as previously reported by PP. RRED spokesperson, Peter Gillis, said Ettalong Beach was under extreme pressure from high density, high-rise developments which will have a huge impact on local infrastructure, life style, and character of the seaside village. Central Coast Council is planning to rezone six foreshore lots in Ettalong Beach along The Esplanade between The Atlantis building and Picnic Parade. The rezoning would increase the height of buildings from 11.5 metres to 17 metres and increase the Floor to Space Ratio from 1:1 to 1:75:1. These lots currently contain a two-storey motel, a vacant block, and a two-storey brick residence and encompasses
A map showing the height and bulk of proposed waterfront developments
an area of about 3,200 square metres. The Council has received a proposal, from an undisclosed developer, to build a five-storey shop-top unit block on this land. Residents spoke strongly against this proposal at a June 29 Council meeting, Mr Gillis said. “Notwithstanding, the Administrator chose to forward this proposal to the Department of Planning, Industry and
Environment (DPIE) for a Gateway Determination,” he said. He said residents were opposed to the rezoning of this foreshore land because any high-rise units would cast significant, unavoidable shading on The Esplanade and the public open space in front of the beach. He said the current threestorey limit reduces the impact of development on the waterfront.
“The properties are only 19 metres from the sand on Ettalong Beach, which has only plastic barriers erected to reduce sand erosion,” he said. “Ettalong Beach has had two major beach erosion events in the last four years, one of which caused weeks of road closures due to the danger of the road and building collapse. “There is still significant and continuing beach erosion close to this site which has not been secured by the Council, and is
cordoned off by plastic fencing, with warning signs.” He said the huge bulk and scale of a development of five storeys over 3,200 square metres, at a FSR of 1:75:1, would be out of character within the Ettalong Beach village, and without any redeeming features. “Ettalong Beach is a village tourist centre, with severely limited parking and road infrastructure,” he said. “This proposal will seriously
impact local amenity and reduce tourist appeal.” He said the current and proposed Ettalong Beach Development Control Plan specifically states that “Developments are to be designed to integrate the foreshore area to the village centre and residential development within the town centre should be able to enjoy view lines to the waterway, including Lion Island, and not be obscured by inappropriate bulky buildings.” Gillis said the petition asks the State Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes, to reject the gateway proposal. The petition also encourages Council to review the ongoing erosion to the foreshore. The petition is the latest in a campaign from RRED to attempt to get new developments to comply with the local zoning guidelines. It can be found at https:// www.change.org/p/robstokes-mp-reject-councilheight-rise-proposal-forettalong-foreshore. On August 11 it had almost 800 signatures. Merilyn Vale
Hart gives update on maps, rates and lack of speakers Central Coast Council now has a map on its website which shows residents in real time what water outages are impacting suburbs. Administrator Rik Hart said residents could see what planned works, maintenance and emergency works were taking place and estimated times and severity of impact. He was explaining the new map at the August 10 Council meeting. At the start of each meeting Hart gives an overview of his
work since the previous meeting. He said non-urgent work had resumed around the Coast with staff working on footpaths and roadworks including the Tuggerawong and Umina foreshore shared tracks and Woy Woy wharf construction. Hart said he had received about 80 emails from ratepayers after rate notices went out this month. He said he would reply to all those emails. The consistent concern was that rates had increased by
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more than the 15 per cent that IPART (the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal) had granted Council. He explained the rates included harmonisation between the two former councils and the latest land valuations which had seen land in the Gosford area increase by an average of 27 per cent more than Wyong. (See separate story.) Hart and CEO, David Farmer, had met IPART on July 27 electronically. Hart had asked for the
meeting as he wants IPART to agree to the Coast’s 15 per cent rate rise to continue after the three years that IPART has currently stipulated. He said the Public Inquiry into Council’s financial mismanagement had released the list of the 97 people who had put in submissions. Hart said he expected the first and last week of September would see public meetings being held and he knew that the Inquiry was contacting people it wanted to interview. Both Hart and Farmer had put
in submissions. Since the last Council meeting Hart had met, again electronically, with Hardys Bay residents about issues in their community and he had met with Local Planning Panel (LPP) chair Donna Rygate. He had called the meeting so he could ask how Council’s downsizing was impacting the LPP and Rygate admitted it wasn’t as fast as in the past and the support to the panel wasn’t as good as it had been but she understood the reasons why.
In an update on the proposed Referendum, Hart said it wouldn’t be proceeding on December 4. A paper will come back to Council advising on the way forward: but the referendum would happen, he said. He concluded his update by noting that no residents had requested to address the Council at either the public or open forum. He said that was unfortunate. We welcome people participating, he said. Merilyn Vale
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