Road-raising request rejected

A concept to raise Brick Wharf Rd by 40cm for the proposed Sporties redevelopment has been rejected by Central Coast Council's planning assessment staff.

The concept was floated as a way to provide senior residents with safe access to and evacuation from the site.

The Council's assessment report has recommended the Joint Regional Planning Panel rejected a proposal from Woy Woy Holdings Pty Ltd to replace the existing bowling club on the corner of Brick Wharf Rd and North Burge Rd with 63 senior living units, a new club and retail outlets.

It declared the concept of raising Brick Wharf Rd "not safe".

"On April 6, 2018, Council received advice from EMM Consulting with regard to a potential solution for flood evacuation," the staff assessment report stated.

"The proposed concept involved the raising of Brick Wharf Rd and was referred for review to Council's Flood and Drainage Engineers," the report said.

A detailed assessment of the proposal was conducted by Council's Waterways and Coastal Protection Division.

The developer's engineer proposed raising the road crown by 0.4 metres with the gutter levels remaining unchanged.

"Raising the road crown ...would increase the average cross fall to 15 per cent which is not safe," according to the Waterways and Coastal Protection Division's assessment.

"Therefore the proposal to retain existing kerb and guttering is not feasible," the assessment concluded.

According to Council's experts the road levels would need to be raised by 0.74 metres to account for the probable maximum flood.

"This is not feasible," the experts concluded.

"Road raising could possibly be considered in the context of an overall adaption strategy for this whole northern part of Woy Woy where all land and infrastructure is raised to a safe level," the assessment said.

"But such a strategy does not exist at present.

"Even if a wide-scale land raising strategy was adopted for this part of Woy Woy then it would still not be appropriate for sensitive and vulnerable development types such as seniors housing, given that safe access and evacuation is required up to the probable maximum flood," the experts concluded.

"The existing road cannot be raised to support the proposed development."

SOURCE:

Central Coast Council Agenda 6.2, 13 Aug 2018