Phone 4342 5333         Email us.

Skip Navigation Links.
Collapse Issue 467 - 08 Apr 2019Issue 467 - 08 Apr 2019
Collapse  NEWS NEWS
Development action groups to consider joining forces
Mehrtens questions generator pollution at Woy Woy tip
Palm Beach ferry runs aground
Technical failure blamed for ferry grounding
Nursing home approved for sensitive bushland
ACF branch to raise Hillview St objections with Ministers
Celebrating 100 years
Approval to strata subdivide Atlantis building
Chamber calls for 'swift action' on local planning panels
CCTV cameras installed at Umina
Anzac Day services around the Peninsula
Veterans' families to receive commemorate crosses
Environment network to screen seismic testing film
Labor promises second Ettalong foreshore project
Money raised to restore community garden
Almost a tonne of waste taken from Empire Bay waters
Feedback wanted on water price drop
Charity run to include new event
Bays group holds annual meeting
Easter book fair held for 43rd time
Events planned for Youth Week
Free school holiday activities
Free activities for families with young children
Kids' market will have Easter theme
Volunteers receive community service awards
Pride of workmanship awards have been presented
Rotary to develop better communication strategies
Ulysses motorcycle club looks for new members
CWA members take out competition awards
CWA vegan scones in demand at festival
Trees planted at CWA hall
Men's Shed to hold garage sale
Dinghy retrieved from channel
Garage sale for Sydney eye hospital
Produce swap at community garden
Easter hat parade
Elders speak on Harmony Day
Suicide awareness program to run at community centre
Charity lunch for disabled surfers' association
Pre-school children visit retirement village
Collapse  FORUM FORUM
Ettalong commercial zone should have three-storey limit
We need to address State planning laws
Time for exhaustive consultation again
Controls are designed to prevent the worst development
Seriously reckless behaviour in school traffic
Consider an independent
Collapse  HEALTH HEALTH
Creating a 'warmer softer environment'
Cancer diagnosis was at once a relief and devastating
New plastic surgeon at hospital
Knitting blankets for charity
Collapse  ARTS ARTS
Author to speak at art exhibition launch
New gallery has launched
Collapse  EDUCATION EDUCATION
Text messages used to chase parents of absentees
Musicians and singers perform under the stars
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971
Photography students make pin-hole camera
Grant for a new garden
Selling cakes on election day
Chinese folk dancers for Harmony Day
Students learn history from Grandpa Fred
Hall redevelopment
Learning about native wildlife
Parents' group seeks volunteers
Keep sick children at home, principal asks
Collapse  SPORT SPORT
Jemma Smith named for three international events
Southern Spirit juniors finish an undefeated season
Ettalong junior part of winning Central Coast bowls side
Umina juniors contest grand final
Bowlers celebrate work of their patron
All swimmers competed in finals
Rugby league players selected for schoolboy teams
Stridsman trains in Colorado Springs
Jemma Smith featured in national campaign
Ettalong competes in summer league
Ettalong women's major singles final

Nursing home approved for sensitive bushland

A 160-bed aged care nursing home will go ahead in sensitive bushland at 45 Hiillview St, Woy Woy, after gaining approval from the Joint Regional Planning Panel on March 28.

The proposal was not compliant with planning provisions.

It had a topmost ceiling height of 10.95metres, exceeding the eight metre maximum building height development standard.

It was three storeys, exceeding the two-storey height limit for the zone and a single-storey development standard limit on the rear boundary for seniors living developments.

The $28m development owned by Thompson Health Care will site a three-storey nursing home on a cleared space within the property.

A bushland conservation area of 67 per cent of the site will be dedicated to the remnant bushland of Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland.

The panel's statement of reasons for its decision included being generally in agreement with the environmental assessment outlined in council reports.

The panel was supportive of the nursing home, saying it suited the site and that while a seniors housing development for the site was already approved, this application needed to be assessed on its own merits.

It said the proposal was well below the floor space ratio control and had a smaller footprint with an additional storey on site with high bushland conservation values.

It said the site was unique and was large, well vegetated, removed from residential development and surrounded by roads or reserves which significantly reduced the visual and amenity impacts - related to building height and bulk - on neighbouring land.

"The large site size and the location of the building envelope relative to the retained bushland also provided significant landscaped setbacks to public land and the streetscape, to help mitigate the visual impacts of the building upon the streetscape,'' the statement said.

It said there was no significant amenity impacts on surrounding land.

The site is adjacent to the Everglades Golf Club, located on the eastern side of Hillview St; with Council recreation and drainage reserves adjacent to the southern and western boundaries, the St John The Baptist School located to the west of the drainage reserve, and four detached houses adjacent to the northern site boundary.

Cr Kyle MacGregor disagreed with the majority decision, which the report noted was consistent with his position when the DA was deferred at a January panel meeting.

The report said Cr MacGregor had the view the application should have been refused for a number of reasons.

These included the impact on the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland area, as this was one of only three remaining sites of such land on the Endangered Ecological Communities list

He also questioned the potential impact on the water tables and flooding issues on the Woy Woy peninsula.

He noted former refusals of the former Gosford City Council of the same site in the past.

He said the design and the aesthetics of the development contrasted with the character and nature of nearby developments within the Woy Woy peninsula.

The applicant successfully argued its non-compliance with height restrictions were consistent with aims of the Gosford Local Environmental Plan to provide for flexibility and with the State Environmental Planning Policy to increase the supply and diversity of housing required to meet the needs of seniors or people with a disability and to achieve efficient use of existing infrastructure and services.

The matter was determined on March 28 with both Central Coast councillors, Chris Burke and Kyle MacGregor, sending their apologies for not attending.

Panel Members Jason Perica, Kara Krason and Michael Leavey were at the meeting.

The approval is subject to a list of conditions including amendments that require a parking management plan to be prepared and submitted to council for approval.

It must ensure adequate allocation of off-street parking is maintained onsite for staff.

And a bushland plan of management must be implemented and progress reports must be submitted to council at intervals, starting at six months after initial works have started, and ending at 10 years.

Restoration areas are to be maintained in perpetuity.

Reports are to be prepared by an ecologist or bush regenerator and submitted to council detailing the progress of the works twice per year with a final report certifying completion of the Bushland Management Zone to be submitted within three years after initial works have started.





Skip Navigation Links.

Skip Navigation Links.
  Copyright © 2019 Peninsula Community Access Newspaper Inc