Peninsula News 420

Page 1

ee! e r F ke on Ta

29 May 2017

Edition 420

An aerial view of the proposed nursing home site

An artist’s impression of the proposed development

Application to build nursing home on bush block A Section 96 application has been lodged to modify a consent given by Gosford Council in 2007 for a development on a 1.6 hectare block on the corner of Hillview St and Veron Rd, Woy Woy. The change would see the development change from a 56unit retirement village to a 160bed nursing home, costing $27.85 million. The block contains a protected stand of Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland endangered ecological community. Thompson Health Care lodged the application on April 13 for a Section 96 amendment to allow a modification for the land to be used as a “residential care facility”. Due to the value of the proposed development exceeding $27 million, it will be subject to approval by the Joint Regional Planning Panel. The residential care facility would include resident recreational spaces, staff and operational facilities and 53 car spaces in addition to 160 beds over three storeys. Central Coast Council must be satisfied, under Section 96 (2) of

the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, that the development to which the modified consent relates is substantially the same development as that for which consent was granted. If the application is not for substantially the same development then the developer would be required to submit a fresh Development Application. The capital cost of the modified development would be $27.85 million. The Statement of Environmental Effect lodged with the Section 96 application said that the land was “partly occupied by remnant Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland … contained within a designated bushland protection/conservation area. Gosford Council holds a positive covenant over the land which spells out an environmental management plan for the bushland. “The approved development footprint and internal roadway access has been cleared of remnant vegetation,” the developer’s Statement of Environmental Effect said. The proposed nursing home would provide the 160 nursing home beds in 152 rooms including a 20-room dementia wing.

The new application takes the approved built form from two to three storeys, reduces basement car spaces from 70 to 52, redesigns the main reception/entry and “maintains the existing approved site bushland/conservation area”. According to the developer, “the overall size of the approved building footprint is being slightly reduced (-206 square metres) as a portion of space that was previously approved as part of the internal building envelope is being converted into external, ground-level, open-courtyard landscaping”. The building footprint would be reduced from 3164 square metres to 2958 square metres but the addition of a third level would increase the gross floor area from 6427 square metres to 9164 square metres, increasing the floor space ratio from 0.55:1 to 0.79:1 (still under the 1:1 allowed for seniors housing). According to the developer’s statement, there is no maximum building height applicable to a residential care facility on the subject land so Council can use its discretion as to whether or not it modifies the consent. The height of the built form will increase “slightly” to accommodate

a third residential level and the steeply pitched roof is proposed to be modified to a flat roof form. Gosford’s LEP2014 has a maximum permissible building height of 8.5 metres which both the approved and proposed developments would exceed. The developer has asked Council to allow the proposed building height on the basis they believe it “does not result in a significant increase in bulk and scale when compared with the approved development… is not visually evident from the public domain…sits well below the surrounding tree canopy… and does not result in any overshadowing.” During 2006 and 2007, a proposal to develop seniors living for 41 dwellings on the site with community and recreational facilities was refused by Gosford Council. The refusal was then upheld by the Land and Environment Court. Gosford Council then approved a revised application for the development of 37 self-care units, a community hall and indoor swimming pool. Five subsequent modifications to the approval increased the number of units in the development.

The original consent was modified on five occasions, the last permitted 56 sole occupancy dwellings, community hall, indoor swimming pool, 70 car spaces, car wash bay, ambulance space and the bushland protection/ conservation area. The approved built form included a basement car park, two residential levels and a high pitched roof. The land was advertised for sale in late 2015. At that time Gosford Council stated that “Section 95 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 states that a DA is valid for five years from the date of approval. “As such, this DA would now have lapsed, however, if the landowners can demonstrate that there has been physical commencement on the site, the DA may still be considered valid. “The onus is on the landowner to prove that physical commencement has occurred and for this reason, council cannot provide a definitive response.” Continue Page 3

THIS ISSUE contains 36 articles - Read more news items for this issue at www.peninsulanews.info Office: 120c Erina Street, Gosford Phone: 4325 7369 Mail: PO Box 1056, Gosford 2250 E-mail: editorial@centralcoastnews.net Website: www.centralcoastnews.net


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