Peninsula Community Access Edition 376
News Phone 4325 7369 Fax 4321 0940
14 September 2015
Artist’s impression of proposed Ettalong boarding house
Hearing into boarding house starts The latest Land and Environment Court hearing into the proposed boarding house development adjacent to Ferry Rd Wharf will be held at the Ettalong Diggers Memorial Club on Tuesday, September 15. Residents opposed to the development have been raising money to pay for a traffic engineer report. Resident Mr Kerry Nicholson said they would be available at the front desk of Ettalong Diggers from 9:45am to 10:15am on Tuesday, September 15, to collect money as part of the Boarding House Fighting Fund. The Land and Environment Court hearing will take place at 10:30am. “As with the last Court conciliation meeting, we expect another large gathering,” Mr Nicholson said. “This is likely to be our last chance to convince authorities we don’t want this building,” he said. Gosford Council, as a party to the Land and Environment Court action, held a special meeting at the Gosford Council chambers on Tuesday, September 1, to prepare for the Ettalong hearing. The meeting was chaired by Gosford Council’s director of governance and planning, Ms Danielle Dickson. At the meeting, five speakers were selected to address the Court hearing at Ettalong. Mr Matthew Wales will speak on the overall impact of the
development. Ms Vanessa Gibson will address matters of safety and security. Mr Peter Jones has been chosen to address the hearing about traffic and parking. Ms Halina Scott will speak on economics and Mr Graham Lake will speak on the health implications of the development for the Ettalong community. Following the hearing at Ettalong Diggers, the Land and Environment Court representatives will conduct a site inspection. At the conclusion of the site inspection, the Court will proceed to Gosford Court for the remainder of the day. The Gosford Court can hold approximately 70 people and residents can attend if they wish. The last two days of the hearing on Wednesday, September 16, and Thursday, September 17, will be held at the Land and Environment Court, level 4, 255 Macquarie St Sydney, where a few seats and limited standing room is available. “We will have representatives at the court and will provide residents with the results,” Mr Nicholson said. The decision about the future of the boarding house development reverted to the Land and Environment Court when Gosford Council informed the court in May that there had been no mediated outcome between council and the applicant. Email, 2 Sep 2015 Kerry Nicholson, Ettalong Boarding House Fighting Fund
Gosford Council has commenced construction of the sandbag wall along The Esplanade between Ettalong and Ocean Beach
Sandbag wall will be 100m long and 3m high Around 700 heavy-duty sandbags will be used to build a wall 100 metres long and three metres high along The Esplanade at Ettalong and Umina to prevent further coastal erosion in the area. The emergency works are part of Gosford Council’s ongoing response to April’s natural disaster, a series of large southerly swells and higher than normal tides that has exacerbated erosion in the area and prevented natural rebuilding of the beach and dune. Council’s general manager Mr Paul Anderson said that building the sandbag wall along The Esplanade was the best solution to protect the area. “Following advice from coastal engineering experts, we decided that installing these sandbags was the best way to quickly and effectively stabilise the sea wall
and shield the local road,” Mr Anderson said. “When it’s complete, the sandbag structure will be almost three metres high above sea level and around 100 metres long. “Unfortunately, the size of the sandbags, location of the erosion, changing tides and construction requirements mean that it will take time to complete these emergency works safely and properly. “The slowest part is the initial three rows of sandbags, which need to be buried underneath the sand when the tides allow. “The sandbag structure is temporary and will remain in place while the erosion and sand loss is naturally restored. “We’ve seen these type of emergency works undertaken in other coastal areas and we’re confident this is the best option at Ettalong and Umina,” he said.
Council currently estimates the sandbagging works could cost up to $350,000. At this stage, Council expects it could possibly take another two months to install around 700 of these large, heavy duty sandbags. “While I can appreciate that it might not look like much progress has been made, I can assure the community that without the efforts of our crews to date the impacts could’ve been a lot worse. “Since early July, our crews have moved a lot of sand from near Ettalong Point to buffer the eroding coastline but the high tides have continued to remove this sand protection. “At the end of the day, public safety will remain our highest priority in managing this erosion issue at Ettalong and Umina.” Media release, 3 Sep 2015 Paul Anderson, Gosford Council
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