A developer of industrial land at Halloran is “extremely disappointed” about the delay in developing the Wyong Employment Zone and says residents and industrialists should be wondering what went wrong.
Morris Wheeler, a Director of Warnervale Holdings, said he and other Directors were extremely disappointed that Central Coast Council and the NSW Government had taken so long to make the Wyong Employment Zone (WEZ) a reality.
“We are especially disappointed that (Council and the Government) have not provided the appropriate levels of funding to assist with infrastructure provision,” he said.
“Although a small area of the WEZ previously owned by Council to the west of the M1 Motorway has been subdivided, this area has not met the demand for industrial land and there remains a critical shortage of fully serviced industrial land on the Central Coast.”
A Council spokesperson said some of the WEZ lands had been successfully developed, notably the 89ha Warner Business Park to the west of the M1 Motorway.
“However, there is a proportion of rezoned lands for which outstanding strategic matters need to be resolved prior to granting any development consent,” the spokesperson said.
“In particular, Transport for NSW continues to raise objections to the development of some sites on the basis of lack of safe road connectivity, and much of the land remains without sewer connection.”
In 2008 the NSW Department of Planning used a State Significant process to rezone 744ha both east and west of the M1 Motorway at the Sparks Rd junction at Halloran.
About 340ha of that land located east of the M1 near Warnervale was rezoned for employment development, including industrial, manufacturing, warehousing and similar uses – to be known as the Wyong Employment Zone (WEZ).
Council’s spokesperson said that at the time of rezoning many of the strategic issues to allow for development of the land were to be resolved at development application stage.
“This included key matters such as flooding, servicing (as much of the area is not served by water and sewer), and ecological constraints,” the spokesperson said.
“In addition, vehicular access arrangements were never resolved and there is currently no design from Transport for NSW as to how many of the industrial lands will gain access to Sparks Rd which is a designated state road.”
Warnervale Holdings is one of a number of development applications currently being assessed by Council in the Mountain Rd, Halloran ,locality as part of WEZ.
“We have already spent more than $250,000 on reports and studies to support our development application,” Warnervale Holdings Director Morris Wheeler said.
Their industrial subdivision in Mountain Rd proposes 18 lots and two residue lots which will form part of a drainage and environmental corridor with most of that land designated to be acquired by Council.
“Once approved, our development will lead to a total investment of more than $150M and will create over 400 full-time jobs and approximately 200 jobs during construction,” Wheeler said.
“The WEZ is vital to the future of the Central Coast region in terms of employment and was to provide thousands of jobs to reduce the number of residents travelling to Sydney and Newcastle for work.
“As a locally controlled company, Warnervale Holdings and their subsidiary groups have been developing industrial land for more than 20 years on the Central Coast, including Lucca Rd in North Wyong.
“We are keen to see Mountain Rd and the WEZ provide for employment lands on the Coast.
“The ball is now in Council’s court to enable the kick off of the long-promised WEZ, east of the motorway.”
Sue Murray
Surely the risk of being a property developer is that catalysts to valuation changes do not happen? No point blaming Council if your investment hypothesis doesn’t play out as you wished.