Droneport details needed, says residents' association
More details about a droneport proposed for the roof of the Woolworths' supermarket in Woy Woy should be included in a development application before Central Coast Council considers its merits, the Peninsula Residents' Association has claimed.
The development application lodged by SLR Consulting Australia Pty Ltd for drone operator Zipline also does not provide adequate information to warrant approval, the association says.
The association has asked that the droneport be treated as "prohibited" under the planning provisions.
"The commercial flying of drones" is a new use of the land that requires assessment by Central Coast Council, the association has written in a submission to the council
"The admitted involvement of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority means that the 'physical infrastructure' is ostensibly an 'air transport facility' which is prohibited in the E1 zone.
"The 15km delivery area described in public statements by Woolworths and Zipline means it could well also qualify as an airstrip, freight transport facility, a transport depot or a distribution centre, all of which are prohibited in the zone," the submission states.
In these cases, a fully-fledged Planning Proposal would be needed to rezone the site.
"Even if does not fall under these definitions, the operation would fall under 'any other development not specified' and would be subject to Council consent.
"In any case, the development application should provide full details of the proposed operation.
"The Statement of Environmental Effects for the application does not mention operating times, numbers of drones, flight frequency, flight paths and heights or payload standards.
"It does not state its landing area requirements or whether or how it would serve the medium density areas of the Peninsula which have minimal open space and less soft areas for landing deliveries.
"Without this information, neither the council nor the community has the necessary basis to support the application.
"Unconditional blanket approval is inappropriate, and neither is conditional approval without an application first publicly disclosing the basis for them and giving the opportunity for submissions to be made about them.
"While the association has not taken a position on the novel use of drones, it would want the community to be fully informed about the proposal and the substantial safety concerns addressed before approval of any facility is contemplated."
Residents Association planning specialist Mr Frank Wiffen said: "The idea is that these grocery orders will be dropped by parachute to lucky recipients in a matter of minutes after being ordered."
He said a Canberra trial by another company called Wing which is owned by Alphabet, a massive conglomerate which also owns Google, came to an end in September.
"Many residents were strongly opposed to the drones and started a community-wide protest group," he said.
Mr Wiffen said the viability of drone delivery services seemed to rely on "maxing out" the operation with high numbers of deliveries, high charges and low numbers of operators.
"The universal view among drone delivery companies seems to be that by far the biggest obstacle they face in setting up a viable operation is government regulation.
"Specific regulations of major importance are the ability to fly a drone beyond line of sight and the ability for a single operator to be responsible for multiple drones.
"The industry says the optimum number is 15.
"This brings costs down to a level where they can compete with other delivery methods."
Mr Wiffen said it was also likely that its viability would also rely on its use by other local businesses, such as chemists and fast food operators.
"This is not mentioned in the development application.
"Otherwise, it would be more appropriately located at Woolworths' Warnervale warehouse.
"In Australia, trials of drone delivery has so far been confined to low density areas in Canberra and Queensland.
"The Woy Woy operation may be an extremely important precedent as the first in NSW.
"We think it deserves close scrutiny by council and the community."
The association is encouraging residents to send submissions about DA/204/2024 to Central Coast Council, before the closing date of April 9.
SOURCE:
Media release, 30 Mar 2024
Frank Wiffen, Peninsula Residents' Association