A community meeting held by the Gosford Waterfront Alliance has called on the NSW minister for planning, Mr Rob Stokes, and the administrator of Central Coast Council, Mr Ian Reynolds, to take an active interest in the former Gosford Public School site.
The Alliance has called for a moratorium on all development on the school land and committee member, Ms Angelique Perak, said the community wants an investigation of the transaction that resulted in Property NSW selling the first parcel of the former school site land to DOMA. “It is rare that the fl oor space ratio and height limits are under-used and it is strange for a government to place such a development on prime waterfront land,” Ms Perak said.
“The government needs to investigate that transaction,” she said. She said it is within the powers of the NSW Government to halt the proposed development of a second parcel of land to accommodate a NSW Department of Finance offi ce and the government still owns the remainder of the property. ‘The further application for the Department of Finance building is replicating and exacerbating the problem,” she said. The celebrated architect and town planner, Mr John McInerney, returned to Gosford to address the community meeting on Wednesday, July 13. Mr McInerney was appointed by the NSW Government in 2003 to oversee the redevelopment of the Gosford CBD and come up with a masterplan for the precinct.
The public meeting, held at the Gosford Anglican Church in Mann St, was called by the Gosford Waterfront Alliance, to continue its campaign against the Gosford waterfront’s redevelopment as an offi ce precinct. Mr McInerney’s plan, which focused on attracting more residential development and capped building heights at 10 storeys, was approved by the state government in 2004. The plan provided the blueprint for the Gosford Challenge which saw 130 community members and groups come together in a six-day design charrette to develop the 2010 Our City, Our Destiny Master Plan. Mr McInerney spoke with Coast Community News prior to the community meeting. “At that time, the Gosford Public School site was seen as the jewel of the Central Coast and at that time the land was seen as a potential extension of the Conservatorium, but as a broader education centre, which would also be a performance centre,” Mr McInerney said.
“From that time, there had always been an intention by the council, community and NSW Government for that area to be very activated, to use planning language, and that the plan would very much enliven that area,” he said. “The taxation offi ce is the opposite of what was envisaged in 2003,” he said. According to Mr McInerney, the Gosford City master plan that was adopted in 2010 by both Gosford Council and the NSW Government underlined the intent of the earlier plan for the waterfront and school site. Where did it all go wrong and why did the community end up with an offi ce block for the ATO on its “jewel”? “It appears to me that the planning authorities have deferred to the money makers,” Mr McInerney said. “By opening up the zoning of that land to B4 mixed use [in 2014], it increased the value of that land back to the state government because it took away the restrictions of what could be developed there. “The NSW Government made more money out of its sale as a mixed use zone.
“I am reluctant to be so brutal about it but I think it was the money that caused the problem,” he said. “The community will suffer from the absence of what should have been and what could have been on that land,” Mr McInerney said. However, he said it is not too late for the community to work together with the Central Coast Council and the NSW Government to salvage some of the intended planning for the former Gosford Public School land. “I think one of the good signs is that the council now has an administrator, so there can be a fresh start with someone who doesn’t have the background of the previous complicated council structures.” Mr McInerney said that, even though the Doma-ATO development application had been approved by the JRPP, the building could be redesigned to house the ATO but “allow more building on top and activate the street front facing the extension of Baker St”. As for the proposed second offi ce block for the NSW Department of Finance and the call for expressions of interest on a third parcel of former school land to the south of the ATO, Mr McInerney said those two further developments should be stopped immediately.
The NSW Government has the power to stop the additional two developments, he said. “To do that, the council and the community have to get together and form a group to work with the NSW Government,” he said. Mr McInerney said he believed the Gosford City Park site, below the Mann St War Memorial and across Vaughan Ave from the former public school land, was the site identifi ed for the regional performing arts centre in the 2010 master plan. “But the buildings between that and Georgiana Terrace need to be activated,” he said. “A whole series of things could be built to achieve the original intent such as residential uses, cafes, restaurants, art spaces,” Mr McInerney said. Media release, Jul 11, 2016 Claire Braund, Gosford Waterfront Alliance Interviews, Jul 12, 2016 John McInerney, Millers Point Angelique Perak, Gosford Waterfront Alliance Jackie Pearson, journalist