Cranes will be in the air and at least one major development under way in the Gosford central business district by March 2016, according to Gosford Council CEO, Mr Paul Anderson.
Mr Anderson took to twitter after the September 17 meeting of the Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP) deferred their decision on the $180 million, triple tower Waterside development for Mann St.
“JRPP are a joke…Where is the Govt’s promise to review #robstokes,” Mr Anderson’s tweet said in a public airing of Gosford Council’s frustrations about the state of the Gosford business district.
Mr Anderson said the panel members who voted against the triple tower development had attempted to attach their approval of the development to Council’s proposal to rezone parts of the CBD.
“The JRPP have tried to attach the two together but our argument was, and is, that the current ability to vary development standards under the LEP exists, and that could have been used to accept the application,” Mr Anderson said.
The panel members did not approve the development because the height variances being sought outside the 2014 Gosford Local Environment Plan were too great.
“But on the same day, they did approve another application that had height variance using Clause 4.6, and they were happy to use that flexibility available to vary the development standards for that project,” he said.
When asked if Mr Anderson believed there were inconsistencies in the JRPP’s adherence to the rules, Mr Anderson said “It would appear so”.
He said the JRPP’s approval of the twin-tower development at the Union Hotel site on the corner of Mann St and Donnison St was an example of how they were prepared to grant variances from maximum height and floor space ratios in some situations.
“The [Waterside] tower on Mann St (tower 1) is taller, it is the tallest of what is proposed, but the height variances of the other two towers are equivalent to or less than the Union Hotel development towers,” he said.
“We were satisfied with the shadowing and the fact the towers were designed in such a way that the shadows would pass pretty quickly,” he said.
According to Mr Anderson, shadowing over the site of the former Gosford Public School won’t be an issue as it appears to have been earmarked by the NSW Government as a commercial development site and not a cultural precinct. “The panel asked us to go back and look at the planning proposal,” Mr Anderson said.
The planning proposal Mr Anderson referred to is Gosford Council’s resolution to rezone parts of the Gosford CBD to provide further incentives to attract developers to what he calls the ‘core CBD’.
“We started some serious discussions with the NSW Department of Planning after the JRPP meeting,” Mr Anderson said. “We went back to the department and said, ‘OK, we need to sort this out’”.
Mr Anderson said several meetings had taken place between Council and the Department of Planning on Monday, September 21 in order to fast-track Council’s development proposal.
“What we want to get back is gateway approval from the department so we can go forward and create the LEP. “There is some work for us to do there, but if we get gateway approval, we can then draw up the plan and commence the required public consultations,” he said.
He said the new planning proposal would be: “A whole different way of looking at height and FSR ratios in that core CBD area.”
When asked how Council intended to win the support of groups opposed to FSR and height increases such as the Community Environment Network (CEN) and Friends of the Performing Arts Precinct (FOPAP), Mr Anderson said: “Obviously it will be a process of trying to explain the rationale around the creation of a core CBD as compared to a very broad CBD.
“As we understand it, the Union Hotel developer wants to start construction in March. “We are starting to see residential unit development around the perimeter of the CBD and the reason behind us now looking at core CBD zoning is in response to what has happened with our 30 per cent bonus provisions.
“The bonus provisions didn’t drive core CBD development, so now we have to focus on a core CBD.”
Interview, Sep 21, 2015
Paul Anderson,
Gosford Council
Jackie Pearson, journalist