Central Coast Council has deferred making a decision about whether or not to go ahead with a planning proposal to rezone two residential properties in Ghilkes Rd, Somersby.
The matter was dealt with at Council’s June 28 meeting by CEO, Mr Rob Noble, as Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, declared an interest, as he had dealt with related matters while working as a consultant for the former Gosford Council in 2015.
A staff recommendation to conclude planning investigations and not prepare a planning proposal was not adopted at the meeting.
One of the landowners, Mr Peter Bowen, addressed the meeting.
Mr Bowen said he acquired the property at Somersby to raise his family in a beautiful rural setting, but he and neighbours had been cut off, isolated and surrounded by industrial land.
He said Council had acknowledged that the two residential properties provided a “useful buffer” between the industrial area and the residential zone.
“The recommendation that the zoning remains as it is means that we will have to put up with all the impacts that have already been acknowledged.
“On December 17, 2013, councillors acknowledged that an extraordinary mistake had been made.
“There is an option that we can lodge our own planning proposal, but Council staff have been deliberately blocking our access to expert studies,’ Mr Bowen said.
“We don’t understand Council’s lack of transparency and cooperation, given council is responsible for the predicament we are in,” he said.
According to the staff report prepared for consideration at the June 28 meeting: “On December 17, 2013, the former Gosford Council considered a Planning Proposal to amend the Gosford Local Environmental Plan 2014 (GLEP 2014) for three lots on the western fringe of the Somersby Business Park; being Lot 4 DP 654894 and Lot 2 DP 712505 Somersby Falls Rd and Lot 3 DP 712505 Ghilkes Rd, Somersby.
“The proposed amendment to GLEP 2014 was to rezone the majority of the land to IN1 General Industrial with some E2 Environmental Conservation on land accommodating significant vegetation.
“As part of the consideration of this proposal, the western part of Lot 2 DP 712505 was deleted from the Planning Proposal due to potential impacts on the residents of the two lots immediately to the west.
“The former Gosford City Council resolved to undertake preliminary investigation planning studies on an adjoining site to the west, being Lots 501 and 502 DP 712506 Ghilkes Rd, to determine if the land was suitable for future industrial uses.
“As a result of the Council resolution, a planning consultant was engaged to undertake studies related to flora and fauna, Aboriginal cultural heritage, bushfire protection, traffic and parking, visual impact, site contamination, hydrology, and water and sewer.
“These studies were undertaken between May 2014 and October 2015 at a cost of $100,000 to the Council (not including the cost of staff time).
“The purpose of the studies was to determine whether the land was capable of being rezoned from E2 Environmental Conservation to IN1 General Industrial,” the report said.
Both lots are located on the western edge of the Somersby Business Park (SBP) between the SBP and Brisbane Water National Park, and are accessed via Ghilkes Rd, which is an unpaved road.
Each lot accommodates one house.
According to the report to Council, a significant portion of the site contains characteristics that are of medium to high ecological value.
“The Bushfire Protection Assessment identified that the subject land is exposed to catastrophic bushfire events that occur in the vegetation on the land to the west within the Brisbane Water National Park.
“The steep sided valleys in the National Park, exposure to predominant bushfire winds from the northwest, west and southwest fire paths, and the unmanaged forest vegetation, creates a bushfire scenario similar to that which occurred during the 1994 bushfires when fire over-ran the Somersby Plateau.
“The Assessment concluded that the application of minimum defendable space widths that would satisfy the flame zone setbacks as required by Objective (3) of Planning for Bushfire Protection 2006 will not address the risk to occupants of development located within the primary fire path along the western edge of the Somersby Plateau, irrespective of the construction standards to the future industrial buildings.
“Also the risk to emergency service personnel and the occupants of the buildings trying to escape an advancing catastrophic bushfire front is extreme, with potential for severe injuries and death.
“Due to the extreme level of risk, the preferred option, according to the Bushfire Protection Assessment, is that the land remain zoned E2 Environmental Conservation, with the current density of development retained; therefore providing a managed buffer zone to the existing IN1 General Industrial zoned land.
“This minimises the number of people, including emergency services personnel, exposed to the high level of risk and minimises the need to provide large number of fire-fighting resources to ensure public safety,” the report said.
Source:
Agenda item 2.4, Jun 28
Central Coast Council ordinary meeting