New group prepares for campaign over hotel

A new group has been formed in Patonga to voice the community's concerns about the proposed redevelopment of the Patonga Hotel and fish and chip shop.

The group voted unanimously at a public meeting held on Saturday, March 5, to oppose what they described as a "massive over-development" of the hotel and fish and chip shop.

"The new owner of the Patonga Beach Hotel is hoping to double the capacity of the local village hotel and adjoining fish shop to create a 150-seat reception centre and extend hotel dining and bar areas over two levels," said Mr Ross Trembath, the new community group's spokesperson.

Mr Trembath said Gosford Council had already received over 70 submissions from members of the Patonga community expressing their concerns about the development application.

"If the proposal goes ahead, the village of just 202 permanent residents can expect an influx of more than 450 patrons and staff on any given day," he said.

"Under the terms of Gosford Council's Local Environment Plan, the development does not meet the objectives of current zoning.

"It exceeds height and floor space ratio requirements, does not adequately address noise generated by the venue and, incredibly, the developer has not proposed a single onsite car parking space.

"Instead the developer has sought variations of these requirements to enable the hotel expansion and reception centre to proceed.

"This proposal is clearly an over-development of the site," said another local resident, Mr Phil Doughty.

"Patonga is a small foreshore community.

"We get a great deal of visitors, especially in the summer, because of our protected beach, pristine estuary and surrounding National Park," he said.

"Everyone gets to enjoy Patonga today but if this development goes ahead, the cumulative impacts from this overdevelopment will be overcrowding, traffic congestion, lack of parking and noise which will destroy the character of the village for residents and visitors alike."

The proposal includes a second floor extension to the hotel plus a second storey reception centre extension to the fish shop.

"This is a land use prohibited under the current B1 Neighbourhood Centre zoning," Mr Trembath said.

"This zoning of the land is to permit small-scale centres appropriate to local needs of people who live and work in the surrounding neighbourhood.

"This proposed over use of the site also raises issues of parking and congestion.

"The pub DA submission was supported by a traffic study taken on a winter weekend in 2002, five years before the current hotel opened," said long-time resident Peter Henderson.

"It showed the maximum number of cars parked in Patonga peaks at 20, and we knew that was ridiculous, so we organised our own traffic study.

"What we found was that maximum number of vehicles parked in the tavern area was 158, and on the two days we took records, peak parking demand exceeded supply by 100% with vehicular inflow of more than 200 per hour."

The DA is currently with Gosford Council planning officers.

The village of Patonga is recognised by Gosford Council for its "high scenic quality landscapes which should be protected as a matter of priority because their significance extends beyond the Gosford region".

Patonga occupies a one-kilometre, long sandy spit protruding from the southern end of Brisbane Water National Park into Broken Bay and has 221 dwellings, home to local fishermen, oyster farmers, working families, retirees, weekenders and holidaymakers.

Mr Trembath said the current hotel manager had addressed an earlier community forum held in February about the proposed development.

"Gosford Council have indicated that they are working their way through all of the submissions and have indicated that this will go to a full council meeting and we will have an opportunity to present the community view to the council formally and we are working for that," Mr Trembath said.

"We formed a working group who are tasked by the community to present the community's views to council.

"The community is committed to working through to the end and if it meant going to the land and environment court then that would be done," he said.

According to Mr Trembath the group has already condensed the 70 public submissions into seven key points, which have been mailed with a covering letter to each Gosford councillor.

"I received feedback from the mayor, Cr Lawrie McKinna saying thank you very much, we are hearing you and we will take your concerns on board.

"In our letter to councillors we said we are seeking an opportunity to discuss the DA in person.

"We are ready for a six- or nine-month campaign that will not fade; the community are united and committed to seeing the right outcome for Patonga," he said.

Media release, 17 Mar 2016

Judy Singer, Patonga Progress Association

Interview, 17 Mar 2016

Ross Trembath, Patonga

Reporter: Jackie Pearson