An alternative to the sale of Austin Butler Reserve
In regard to Austin Butler Reserve, Woy Woy, there is an alternative to the proposed sale to Peninsula Plaza to enhance the supermarket.
Council could consider the sale of the Council owned properties on the corner of Blackwall Rd and Oval Ave, Woy Woy, to the Peninsula Plaza and supermarket.
With heritage conditions attached, the Council building facade facing Blackwall Rd, built in 1931, is maintained indefinitely.
Heritage buildings can be incorporated into modern architectural buildings.
For example, The Fullerton Hotel Sydney retains the facade of the heritage-listed GPO Sydney.
The structures east of the1931 building facade could make way for the Plaza expansion with any Heritage listed components retained and incorporated into future Council buildings that are on the drawing board.
The Council services that currently occupy the building, the Library and Council Customer service, could be relocated to the Council-owned Peninsula Community Centre on the corner of Ocean Beach and McMasters Rds.
The Peninsula Community Centre could be reconfigured and grow to accommodate these services.
The Old Woy Woy Fire Station building being relocated to Council-owned land elsewhere on the Peninsula and repurposed.
The Woy Woy Peninsula Neighbourhood Services Inc, which occupies the Old Woy Woy Fire Station, could also be relocated to the Peninsula Community Centre, making the Peninsula Community Centre a Council and community service hub.
The Peninsula Community Centre is modern and well-equipped and is on two main roads with public transport at the door.
We can not just keep expanding our regions outwards to accommodate our burgeoning populations.
Covering prime agricultural land and native forests with new housing estates in not the answer.
Think of the billions of dollars that governments would save if we all would look inwards and upwards.
No need to construct billion dollar highways further and further out.
These funds could be put back into our communities.
People's daily commute to work would be measured in minutes not hours.
Our backyards would become the parks, the theatres, the playing fields, the art galleries and the ocean.
Let the trees grow.
If we, the communities and governments, embrace the concept of inward and upward growth of our suburbs we can.
SOURCE:
Email, 8 Oct 2023
Janet Porter, Woy Woy