Full review needed before rezoning
Mr Matthew Wales might well be right that higher-density residential development at Umina would be a desirable change (Chamber calls for high density residential zone, Peninsula News, October 3).
I am inclined to think that he is right, but this kind of decision should only be made in the context of a full review of residential policies for the Peninsula, and, in this respect, Mayor Smith is absolutely correct (Peninsula's future needs 'thought', says mayor, Peninsula News, October 3).
We need to look at the population target for the Peninsula and the household-distribution pattern that we can expect, and to relate our population goals to the infrastructure network that we can achieve over the next 20 years.
Only then, shall we be able to say what rational set of standards will serve our purpose.
Of course, standards are only as good as their enforcement.
Let us hope that the new mayor is prepared to protect us from monstrosities such as the Atlantis development at Ettalong and from such ill-judged proposals as the West St mixed-use project and the Woy Woy Bowling Club scheme.
Much is being made of the need to meld the old Gosford and Wyong development plans into a coherent whole but if the Council then goes on to approve developments that flout every principal of the scheme, as happened at Ettalong, the plan becomes an exercise in futility.
A development plan is a blunt instrument at the best of times, designed only to protect us from the worst kinds of development, and, if we can't even rely on it to do that, we are better off without.
I might add that, if Mr Wales thinks that a review of the Woy Woy commercial centre is "the most pressing issue that this new Council has to come to grips with," I'd say he is far out of step with the priorities of nearly all Peninsula residents.
As a commercial centre, Woy Woy does not appear to have a bright future, but its proximity to the railway station makes it deserving of first consideration for high-density residential development in any Peninsula-wide review.
Perhaps a forward-looking Council could persuade some of those tower developers in Gosford to consider sites around the station and (dare I suggest it), perhaps, a forward-looking Council could actually take an active role in redeveloping Woy Woy, but let's not hold our breath for that.
Email, 3 Oct 2017
Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy