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DAILY NEWS…The Central Coast community has nothing to fear from a community land plan of management that will be exhibited by Central Coast Council from December 20 until February 17, according to council CEO David Farmer.
By Jackie Pearson
Speaking to The Point this morning Mr Farmer said the plan of management was a “tidiness piece”, needed because since its creation in 2016 Central Coast Council had been dealing with around 20 different plans of management for its 2400 community land holdings.
What is community land? When a council owns land in New South Wales it can be classified as either community land or operational land. The former includes parks, bush reserves, playing fields and open spaces. The latter is land like council depots. The other major difference is that a council cannot sell community land.
“This is called a generic plan of management,” Mr Farmer explained. “It will cover all community land owned by Council and then there will be various categories such as parks and playing fields so this is quite innocent,” he said.
“This is something that should have happened three or four years ago but it got put on hold during the fog of war caused by amalgamation so you can go looking for reds under the bed but it really is less reds under the bed than anywhere else.”
Following the consultation period, the plan of management will be refined and brought back to a future council meeting. However, Mr Farmer said it was the first step in a process.
Some sites will have site-specific plans to cover the council’s intentions to put them to special use. Mr Farmer said. Central Coast Stadium on the Gosford waterfront, The Haven at Terrigal and The Entrance Memorial Park were examples of community land likely to have site-specific plans of management.
He wouldn’t be drawn on naming any more sites that might require specific plans but said any site-specific plans would be subject to the same consultation process as the generic plan about to go on exhibition over the summer holiday period.
“It really is an act of good management, good administration,” Mr Farmer said of the preparation and exhibition of the generic plan of management.
No tranche four or five
The CEO was firm in his response to questions from The Point about whether or not Council had any intentions to attempt to sell any of the community land on its books.
“No. It can’t be sold,” he said. “We have got to do a reclassification [to change land from community to operational in order to sell it].”
Administrator Rik Hart resolved to sell two parcels of community land located in Mann St Gosford, subject to reclassification, at the last Central Coast Council meeting for 2022, but Mr Farmer said the “subject to reclassification” clause in the resolution made it lawful.
“The Council’s resolution to sell parcels of land happened weeks after I arrived in April 2021 and there has been no further resolutions to sell more land since that happened,” Mr Farmer said.
The Point has obtained information that in addition to the three “tranches” of land put on the market as a result of the April 2021 resolution, Central Coast Council had planned a further two tranches of land for sale.
According to Mr Farmer that is not the case. “There are no other lists,” he said.
He referred to the Administrator’s Minute, also passed at the December 13 meeting, to explore whether Central Coast Council had a land holding that would be suitable for a domestic violence facility or affordable housing development.
“We may well be looking at land that has not yet sold but would be suitable but that would need to have very specific site requirements.
“Even for affordable housing if you are trying to get bang for your buck you need a site with access to services and transport so the residents can go to the doctor and dentist without needing a car,” he said.
The third step in the process of managing community land will be a plan of management for all Crown Land holdings that are managed by the council, according to the CEO.
Mann Street land will be sold
The community lots in Mann Street to be sold “subject to reclassification” were part of the site that was earmarked for the Central Coast’s cultural precinct in 2017-18. Cost blow-outs resulted in the council abandoning its plans to build a performing arts centre and cultural precinct in Mann Street.
In 2021 the NSW Government (via Landcom and TAFE) expressed interest in acquiring the site of the old Broadwater Hotel along with the former Gosford Council Chamber, land on Georgiana Terrace and the two community lots to develop a “vertical TAFE” and affordable housing.
The reclassification of the two community lots is underway as a planning proposal to amend the State Environmental Planning Policy that controls development in the Gosford City Centre (introduced in 2018). However, according to the Department of Planning and Environment’s planning portal, that process has been at “pre-exhibition” stage since mid-year.
Mr Hart resolved that the council would “reaffirm its preference to sell these landholdings to the Minister administering the Technical and Further Education Commission Act 1990, the Minister for Skills and Training, for the prime purpose of developing a new TAFE NSW campus.”
Mr Hart delegated authority to Mr Farmer to execute a contract of sale for these landholdings with the Minister for Skills and Training on terms he “considers will achieve educational and economic benefits for the Central Coast community”.
The contract sale price cannot be less than the market price determined by a suitably qualified independent valuer. Details of the deal are to remain confidential.
If the sale contract is not executed by 31 March 2023, Mr Farmer will invite open market offers for these landholdings (via expression of interest or tender) in accord with Council’s Land Transactions Policy.
“We’ve been working closely with the state and I am confident we are close to having a contract signed,” Mr Farmer said.
“I am very hopeful it will come across the line as it is an important plank in the rebirth of Gosford to have the activation of a TAFE campus in the city,” he said.
As for the status of the reclassification of the two community lots, Mr Farmer said, “I have not been part of that process but my people are confident.
“If not we will have to renegotiate with TAFE,” he said. “It is ‘subject to’ so the contract has no value if the land doesn’t get reclassified.”
Candidate will announce waterfront
A proposal to develop Gosford Waterfront will move forward following a resolution at the last 2023 Central Coast Council meeting.
CEO David Farmer said the Council had conducted a 600-person survey to measure support for the proposal in addition to its usual “your voice our coast” website engagement because the “self-selection” nature of the usual engagement process was “potentially not reliable”.
“What we really need to do now is get the $8.5 million to progress [the business case] so we can do the work for the firming up of all the issues,” Mr Farmer said.
He said he believed the most important component of the proposal was the “connectivity piece”, that is, how to best connect the waterfront with the rest of Gosford given that it is cut off by a major four-lane road (Dane Drive/Central Coast Highway).
“Ultimately I am sure the plan will go ahead,” he said.
The NSW Labor Opposition Leader, Chriss Minns, has already pledged to spend the $8.5 million if elected in March 2023 but Farmer said he was “absolutely” certain the Perrottet government would match that pledge.
“We are constantly talking to them [the Liberal Government]. It is likely to coincide with the announcement of the Liberal Candidate for the seat of Gosford,” he said. The seat of Gosford is held by Labor Member, Liesl Tesch.
As to the probability that the community could see a performing arts centre built as part of the waterfront development, Mr Farmer said there was a “public building” included in the proposal.
“We have a decent pallet of performing arts facilities here on the Coast,” he said, listing Peninsula Theatre, Laycock Street Theatre and the Art House as all having offerings for a particular market segment.
“We can’t expect to have a high-class offering of five times six thousand seats,” he said, noting that facilities like those in Wollongong and Newcastle were all “owned by the Crown”.
“We have a football stadium that costs us $5 million a year to own,” he continued but did give a conditional nod to a “smaller scale performing arts centre, a concert hall or art gallery. We don’t have something like a flat-floor 1000-seat concert hall,” he said.
The viability test for any such facility, according to David Farmer, would be whether or not it “meets the needs and fills the gaps” in the existing market.
He said, “We have a lot of work to go,” before anything gets built on the Gosford waterfront.
What you can do
Central Coast residents can expect the community land plan of management and an inventory of Central Coast Council’s community landholdings to go on exhibition from December 20. It will be available via the yourvoiceourcoast.com website.
The residents of the Central Coast have been told their council will remain under NSW Government administration until September 2024 so it is critical that residents pay close attention to council decisions made in that period. The Administrator is supposed to act as the replacement elected council. The Central Coast has had three administrators since 2016. The first changed a key accounting policy which resulted in the expenditure of restricted funds. The second promised that no environmental land would be sold to fix the debt. Current Administrator Rik Hart also saw through the sale of environmental land despite community pleas for the sale not to proceed.
