Out of the 3,200 parcels of land currently owned by Gosford Council, 20 have been earmarked as suitable for sale with an estimated gross return of $13.5 million.
Councillors were asked to individually approve each lot for sale at the Tuesday, September 8 ordinary meeting. The review of Council’s property portfolio was considered at a Strategy/Policy Workshop held on Tuesday, June 30.
According to a report presented to the September 8 meeting, over time, existing holdings have been replaced with large or more modern facilities, but no portfolio review occurred, of whether replaced parcels should have been retained or sold.
Council’s Property Group has reviewed the portfolio to establish sites with sale potential. The sites were considered by the various notional owners within Council and then inspected by the executive leadership team. Councillors were briefed on each parcel, including where the new or better amenities had been created, and were offered the opportunity to inspect the sites under consideration.
This process is now complete and a shortlist of sites drawn up that have been identified as having sale potential, with no further use to Council and having little community benefi t. The parcels also have annual costs to Council to mow and maintain; are mostly vacant so (after costs), they deliver a negative financial return.
If sold, they will allow Gosford Council to free up capital for other uses without reducing its range of services or general community amenity. The parcels recommended for sale represent 0.6 per cent of the Council’s total portfolio in terms of parcel numbers and 0.4 per cent in terms of hectares.. “These statistics exclude lands held for Coastal Open Space System (COSS),” the report to Council said.
“Those parcels have not been considered for sale, nor included in the descriptions of Council land held.” According to the report, historically there has not been a ‘portfolio’ or ‘macro’ approach to the management of Council’s property.
As a result, Council has been ‘overweight’ with significant duplication evident; land has been held “because it might be needed in the future”; and as a result, new initiatives can be poorly located or improperly delivered, because they are often directed towards unsuitable Council land, simply because it is unused.
A new approach to land ownership is to “own what is needed now, will likely need in the near future or highly strategic land, and recycle capital from selling land not meeting criteria and reinvesting funds. Where new initiatives occur, Council will endeavour to acquire the right parcel in the right location.
Council will receive the sale proceeds, but will incur various costs relating to rezoning applications, reclassification costs, subdivision, valuation, legal and real estate agent fees.
Current gross proceeds are estimated at $13.5 million, but this figure may change due to possible re-zoning or subdivision initiatives, changes in market conditions or other factors emerging, as each parcel is prepared for sale.
Each of the 20 parcels earmarked had to be individually approved for sale, subject to any terms contained in each specifi c recommendation. In each situation Council will complete the lodgement of rezoning applications, reclassifi cation, subdivision or other initiatives, which reasonably maximise the value of each parcel for sale purposes.
The 20 lots earmarked for sale were: lot A, DP 162881, 139 Faunce St, Gosford; lot 46 DP 231546, 6 Isis St, Wyoming; Perratt Cl Reserve R2217, 1B Perratt Cl, Lisarow; R2129 Lot 20 DP 258815, 13 Winter Cl, Lisarow; Eagle Close Reserve R0012, 2 Eagle Cl, Lisarow; Lot 1 DP 996535, 40a George St, East Gosford; reserve between Wells St and Lushington St, East Gosford; reserve at the corner Wells St and Coburg St, East Gosford; lot 25 DP 26468, corner Dover Rd and Lakeview Rd, Wamberal; lot 11 DP 701553, 88a Empire Bay Dve, Bensville; a minimum six lots within the parcel known as Part R2202 Yarram Rd Playground, Bensville (that proceeds from the sale are used to upgrade the small existing playground to a pocket type playground as defi ned under the 2015 Playground Strategy); lot 195 & 196 DP 9894, Brisbane Ave, Umina; Lot 56 DP 9263, 40 & 42 Albion St, Umina; Lot 318 DP 225178 and Lot 319 DP 225178, Bluewave Cres, Forresters Beach; Lot 32 DP 248806, 93a Riviera Ave, Terrigal; Lot 402, DP 818160, 36 James Sea Dve, Green Point; DP 818160, 38 James Sea Dve, Green Point; 1 Hely St, West Gosford; Lot 8 DP 246234, 12 Jerribin St, Wyoming; Lot E DP 39240, 9 Russell Drysdale St, East Gosford.
Agenda item SF.17,
Sep 8, 2015
Gosford Council