Council staff recommend Farnell Rd proposal approval
Central Coast Council staff have recommended that tonight's council meeting approve a proposal for 27 units and seven townhouses over five blocks on the corner of Blackwall and Farnell Rds, Woy Woy.
The report says the $11 million development on the 3721.5 square metre site owned by Apex Smart Homes Pty Ltd is permissible in the zone and that no councillor has made any representations about it.
But residents submitted 87 comments or objections when it was first exhibited and 36 when it was exhibited a second time.
They complained about overshadowing, infrastructure issues such as stormwater, traffic and parking, loss of privacy and light pollution among other issues.
Save Our Woy Woy community group founder Mr Harvey McDougall said the submissions had been basically ignored.
He will speak on behalf of the group at the public forum at 6pm, ahead of the council meeting.
The group is calling on residents to attend tonight's council meeting to give a clear message to councillors who will vote on a development proposal.
The proposal exceeds planning provisions in a number of ways.
It is above the height limit of 11metres by 7.5 per cent.
It is above the maximum floor space ratio by 2.7 per cent.
The setbacks along the boundaries are as little as 4.2 metres when six metres is the limit.
The setbacks also compromise the deep soil provisions for landscaping along boundaries.
The waste servicing requirements are exceeded by 89 per cent but the council report says the code was written at a time when the maximum residential bin size was 240 litres and the bins are now 360 litres.
The council report states that the 34-unit development can be serviced with 28 bins and this would take up 28 metres of street frontage on bin night.
The proposal fails to meet apartment design guidelines for minimum separation distances from buildings to side and rear boundaries.
Six units fail to comply with solar and daylight access into living rooms and private open spaces.
Units Nine, 18 and 27 only get one hour of sunlight between 9am and 3pm in mid-winter while three other units only get two hours.
Two units have balconies that fail to provide a three-metre depth.
The development fails to meet the communal open space policy of 25 per cent and the communal space it does allocate on the ground floor, at 21 per cent, fails to provide at least two hours of sunlight to at least 50 per cent of the space, only giving it to 25 per cent of the space.
The report says the proposal has either 61 or 62 car parking spaces (it mentions both).
In summing up, the report recommends approval, saying the proposed consolidation of five lots and redevelopment is consistent with all relevant directions under the Central Coast Regional Plan 2036.
It says the proposed built form is considered acceptable in the context of the site and is in the public interest as it will provide a variety of housing types and densities within the area.
Tonight's meeting is at the Central Coast offices at Wyong. Meeting.
It starts at 6pm with the public forum and the meeting proper starts after the speakers.
This development is the first item on the business agenda so it should be dealt with early in the night.
SOURCE:
Central Coast Council agenda 2.1, 29 April 2019
Interview (Merilyn Vale), 23 April 2019
Harvey McDougall, Save Our Woy Woy