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7 May 2002
Council asks for rate rise Gosford Council has decided to ask ratepayers to agree to a rate rise of an average of $23 a year. The council wants to raise rates by four percent to fund a loan of $14.7 million over 15 years. The loan would allow the completion of the new multipurpose Woy Woy aquatic centre and basketball stadium, as well as six new surf club buildings including two on the Peninsula. The Woy Woy aquatic centre is expected to cost $17 million and the surf club buildings $6 million. Mayor Cr Robert Bell said: "Many residents in the community have said we need facilities now. “The clubs are 70 years old and we have waited long enough. "The only way council can possibly achieve this outcome is to ask the community for an extra 45 cents per week." "The new surf clubs will include Umina and Ocean Beach, as well as Avoca, Copacabana, Killcare and Wamberal. "This is an opportunity for our young people to be involved in these projects and be a part of the new surf clubs to take us to
2025. "For the first time young people will be involved in the decision making for their future and we believe up to 2000 new young people will join these state of the art facilities," said Cr Bell. The council will also allocate $35 million from its budget to roads and transport. “For some time, council has been saying that we need an integrated transport system to improve traffic flow. “We are providing more money for roads, but we need a comprehensive ferry service in the Brisbane Water. “Council is upgrading 11 wharves over the next two years as its contribution. “Council supports a fast ferry, 38 minutes to Circular Quay, but we need more buses, a commuter bus service to Sydney and a light rail to Terrigal from Gosford Railway Station. A proposal last year to raise rates 7.2 per cent to pay for kerb and gutter, footpaths, roadworks and water safety was abandoned after it was overwhelmingly rejected by ratepayers. Media release, April 24
Brogden supports fast ferry New NSW Liberal leader, Mr John Brogden, has announced the Coalition's support for the Ettalong to Circular Quay high speed ferry. He said it would provide the residents of the Central Coast with badly needed alternative means of transport into the heart of Sydney. "The Coalition supports this project because it will take some pressure off the F3 Freeway and the main northern rail line to Sydney. "It will also deliver jobs to the Woy Woy Peninsula and the Central Coast, open up
investment opportunities and provide a major boost to the Central Coast tourism industry." Member for Gosford, Mr Chris Hartcher, said he understood that the Ettalong Beach fast ferry could potentially deliver “up to 7000 flow-on employment opportunities” across the Gosford and Wyong regions as a result of tourists that experience the trip. "Part of the role of Government is to encourage private sector infrastructure development in partnership with the State and that is why the Coalition supports the high speed ferry project," he said. Media release, April 23
Siltation in Correa Bay
Edited report could be released Gosford Council’s Coastal and Lagoon Planning (CLP) committee has decided to stick to its recommendation to release an edited version of the Correa Bay report. If Gosford Council accepts the recommendation tonight (Tuesday), the edited report will be released almost two years after it was written. The edited version of the report was shown to the Correa Bay Water Quality Management committee, which compiled the original report. The chairman of Correa Bay committee, which had since been disbanded, advised that former m embers considered that additional information which the
CLP committee wanted inserted should be presented as an addendum to the original document rather than being merged into the document. With both viewpoints next to each other, the reader could form their own conclusion. The CLP committee decided to recommend merging the original July 2000 report and a review completed by NSW Fisheries, the Department of Land and Water Conservation and Gosford Council in December 2001. The result would remove all references to officer’s names and “where appropriate shall present different comments in different font styles to enable ease of identification of the
modifications”. Community representative on the CLP committee, Mr Ron Clifton, recorded his objection to the decision in the committee minutes, stating he was in favour of there being an addendum to the original draft document rather than a merged document. Another community representative, Mr Bob Cochrane, abstained from the vote. A total of seven community and association representatives attended the CLP meeting, as well as four council officers, a DLW C representative and committee chairman Cr Malcolm Brooks. Council agenda CL.001, May 7
Extra meeting on management plan An e xt ra communit y meeting will be held on the Peninsula to discuss Gosford Council’s Draft City Management Plan. The extra meeting will be held at Umina Christian Life Centre, 4 Sydney Av, from 6pm to 8pm on Thursday, May 16. The other meeting on the Peninsula will be held at the Peninsula Community Centre, 93 MacMasters Rd, Woy Woy, from 9.30am to11.30am on Monday,
Everglades
May 6. The meetings are held to seek community input into the Draft City Management Plan, which is on public exhibition until May 28. Council directors will be present at the meetings and general manager Mr Peter Wilson will coordinate each workshop. The plan is made up of several documents: Council's Strategic Plan and Capital Works Program, Council’s Program Budget and Revenue Policy and Council’s
current State of Environment Report. The plan will be available for the public to view at Council’s Administration Building, Gosford City libraries at Gosford, Woy Woy, Umina, Kincumber and Niagara Park and the Terrigal Tourist Information Centre. Other meetings to discuss the plan will be held in Gosford Council chambers and at Terrigal. Press release, April 30