Restaurant seeks extension of public pathway

A restaurant in Pearl Beach has applied to Central Coast Council for the creation of a public pathway across Crown land to provide access to a new second-storey dual occupancy development.

The proposal would extend an existing public footpath along the side of the Pearls on the Beach Restaurant to provide access to the entrance to the upper storey.

Proposed lease terms have been agreed between Central Coast Council as the manager of the Crown land and The Suzanne Holding Company Pty Ltd as the owner of the restaurant, according to a report prepared for the restaurant by planning consultant Doug Sneddon Planning Pty Ltd.

"Notwithstanding the agreement to enter into a lease, a development application is required in order to obtain development consent under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 for the construction of the proposed pathway," the report stated.

It said the Crown land was part of a beach front recreation reserve, which provided public car parking and pedestrian access to the beach.

"Adjoining the southern boundary is Pearls on the Beach restaurant and associated dual occupancy residential development.

"An existing pathway provides pedestrian access to the restaurant across the public reserve."

The report said that development approval was granted last December for alterations and additions to the dual occupancy at the restaurant.

That development application "proposed a new pathway providing access to/from dual occupancy Unit 2 across the adjacent public reserve, connecting with the existing pathway providing public access to "Pearls on the Beach" restaurant.

However, the proposed access path was not approved by Council at the time, as "no details of this path have been provided, and no owner's consent for these works has been provided. As such consent cannot be granted for this pathway".

The report stated that the proposed pathway was consistent with relevant State and local planning frameworks for the locality and Council was able to reasonably form the view that the proposed pathway had minimal environmental impact.

The estimated cost of work was $1000.

Approval for the proposal was requested.

SOURCE:

DA Tracker, 20 Nov 2020

DA59704/2020, Central Coast Council