Umina will be prime target for next Ministerial rezonings
The Minister has announced the selection of seven areas where multi-unit residential development will now be allowed in what have been, up to now, low-density residential zones.
The new zones are around Woy Woy, Gosford and Wyong stations and around Westfield, Erina, Green Point and The Entrance shopping areas.
Some of the surrounds to these points are unbuildable, commercially-developed or already zoned for multi-unit residential, so it is difficult to know how many possible sites will actually be opened up by this move.
If we had a Council that cared about the community, the potential new sites for development would have been identified, and the residents of the new zones would have been informed of the possible effects of the change.
Instead, it will be for every affected individual to unearth his own information and make his own assessment of the situation.
According to the Minister, the sites have been chosen, based on access to services, availability of public transport, infrastructure capacity and the aim of "balancing growth" (whatever that means - probably nothing).
However, based on those criteria, some of the selections appear to be idiosyncratic, to say the least.
It would be interesting, for example, to see the scoring system that identifies the Green Point shopping centre as a first priority for multi-unit residential development in the region.
However, let's not expect the Council to enlighten us on this point, as the Planning Department with the worst approvals record in the state can hardly have time to look into matters of community impact that would require some real planning analysis, and our elected representatives seem to have been singularly silent on the whole process.
Let's also not wonder whether the Council is ready with any forward thinking about the urban shape that these zones might take under the new regime.
It is, in fact, easy to predict that the outcome will be the usual developers' schemozzle, with the Minister's already lowered planning standards stretched to the limits (and beyond) in the interests of maximizing profits, and the public be damned.
It is a pity that it will work out this way, because the Minister, in principle, is right: it was necessary to provide space for a wider range of residential accommodation.
However, the devil is always in the detail in these matters, and this is where the system will certainly fail.
House owners near the Umina shopping centre had better look to their interests, because anyone can see that this will be a prime target for the next round of Ministerial rezonings.
SOURCE:
Email, 2 Mar 2025
Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy