Townhouses to have less drive area than 'gun barrel'
An application has been lodged with Central Coast Council to construct seven three-bedroom townhouses at 6-8 Berith St, Umina.
Three of the proposed townhouses would have vehicular access from Berith St and the remaining four from Alexander Lane at the rear of the property.
A total of 12 car parking spaces are included in the plans, comprising both garaged and outdoor spaces.
The site has a total area of 1579 square metres, consolidating two adjacent lots, and is zoned R1 General Residential.
Existing houses of each lot would be demolished.
The proposal claims to have no variations to setbacks and provides full size private open spaces at ground floor level, substantial extra private open space at first floor level.
It is claimed that all units will receive the required amount of solar access both to internal living areas and to private open spaces and that overshadowing to neighbouring properties will be "negligible".
The total area of on site concrete driveway is 173 square metres with the two rear on-site car parks located on a permeable surface.
This compares with 200 square metres of concrete driveway commonly found with three-unit "gun barrel" developments.
A Traffic Impact Assessment, prepared by Genesis Traffic, concludes that the traffic generation of the proposed development "will not present any adverse traffic implications" and that the proposed parking provision complies with the planning provisions.
The application states that the proposed development has a maximum height of 7.20 metres, which complies with the 8.5-metre maximum building height for the site.
The proposed gross floor area is claimed to be 786 square metres which would result in a floor space ratio of 0.5:1 complying with the development standard for residential development.
The application also indicates that 30 per cent of the site area is proposed as soft landscaping, which meets the minimum requirement of 25 per cent.
The application acknowledges that the site has been substantially cleared of most of its original vegetation with "several small exotic trees and domestic plantings remaining on the site".
"These will be removed as part of the development process."
A landscape plan, prepared by Contour Landscape Architecture, is designed to offset the vegetation removal, including the planting of native trees, shrubs, and ground covers.
The landscape plan includes, on site, four bangelow palms, three tuckeroos and a frangipani all with a 75 litre pot size.
There are several smaller trees and shrubs.
According to the site plan, there is an existing small-medium sized street tree out-side 8 Berith St, which appears to be close to Unit 1's proposed driveway.
However, this is not mentioned in the application or the landscaping plan.
No arborist report is included in the public exhibition documents.
The landscaping plan proposes the planting of three street trees, comprising coastal banksias with a 75 ltr pot size.
The application claims the development will provide a high-quality residential facility that will offer substantial benefits to the local community.
The closing date for written submissions is May 14.
SOURCE:
DA Tracker, 20 Apr 2025
DA/175/2025, Central Coast Council