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Central Coast Council Administrator has offered residents an opportunity to choose between keeping an existing green space or selling it for development and using the proceeds to pay for community greening but there is more to this proposal than meets the eye.
By Jacquelene Pearson
Last week The Point reported that Central Coast Council staff intended to recommend the reclassification of 80 lots of land from operational to community. At the same time it proposed reclassifying 11 lots of community land to operational so they could be leased or sold.
One of the locations in the latter category – recommended for reclassification from community land to operational land was the Austin Butler AC in Woy Woy. The AC stands for access. The property is, in fact, a natural area of bushland wedged between Woy Woy rugby stadium, the Peninsula Plaza on Blackwall Rd, and the Austin Butler football oval.
Prior to the August Central Coast Council meeting, which was held on Tuesday, August 22, the Community Environment Network issued a statement raising concerns about aspects of the staff recommendation.
CEN congratulated Central Coast Council staff for proposing to reclassify the 80 lots of operational land as community land which means it cannot be sold.
However, the Coast’s peak environmental organisation said the staff recommendation lacked conservation credibility for two reasons:
1. The recommendation ignored the need to reclassify Porters Creek Wetland from operational to community land, and
2. It moved ahead with the reclassification to operational land and subsequent sale of Austin Butler AC in Woy Woy.
“It is good news that Central Coast Council is making an effort to protect areas such as the wetlands at Davistown, Buff Point, Hamlyn Terrace, Jilliby and Lisarow along with natural areas in Springfield and Watanobbi,” said CEN Executive Member, Zina Harije.
Protect Porters Creek Wetland
Ms Harije said it was equally disappointing that Central Coast Council had missed the opportunity to protect Porters Creek Wetland from the risks of sale and over-development by failing to move its classification from operational to community land.
“Council’s stubborn determination to prioritise a masterplan for Warnervale Airport over the need to protect one of the region’s most important natural assets is unethical and does not align with the Local Government Act’s guiding principles (Section 8A) for intergenerational responsibility and ecologically sustainable development,” she said.
“One of Mr Hart’s first actions when he arrived as Acting CEO in 2020 was to shelve a Conservation Agreement with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) that would’ve given Porters Creek Wetland permanent protection.
“As Acting CEO and then as Administrator, Mr Hart has allowed the nonsense of master planning for Warnervale Airport to progress with no transparency. The August meeting agenda says the masterplan will be exhibited early in 2024.
“Council still hasn’t disclosed the results of 2021-22 Request for Information (RFI) or ‘market sounding’ in relation to the airport. If the business case for the council’s airport is so robust, why is it shrouded in such secrecy?”
The 700 Ha Porters Creek Wetland is known to the locals as Porters Creek Lake and is the largest wetland on the Tuggerah Lakes system which filters a large area of developed water catchment.
“Mr Hart knows the importance of Porters Creek Wetland in ensuring sediment and pollutants are filtered out of the water flowing via Porters Creek and Wyong River to Tuggerah Lakes.
“The data collected during the process of entering the Conservation Agreement confirmed that the wetland is home to threatened species and Endangered Ecological Communities (EECs).”
Stop Austin Butler AC flog off
Ms Harije said the staff recommendation to “repackage” Tranche 3 of the 2020 asset disposal program was a “massive breach of the community’s trust”.
“If the Administrator, Mr Rik Hart, adopts this resolution in its current form he will be committing yet another act of unforgiveable environmental vandalism.
“He must know that Woy Woy town centre is in the middle of a heat sink with canopy cover of less than 10 per cent. This stand of Paperbark and She Oak trees behind Woolworths is the last natural shade in the town centre.
“Mr Hart is supposed to be acting in the best interests of the community in the absence of an elected council. How can he, then, ignore the 1600 residents who have signed a petition to save Austin Butler AC?”
She said Mr Hart needed to be reminded that the community’s trust has been breached on several occasions during his tenure.
“We were told no environmental land would be sold but Spring Creek Wetland at Doyalson was sold for less than its environmental or market value. We were told there would be no fire sales and yet Warner Business Park was sold for a fraction of the price it was resold for by a developer within months.
“We were told only $50 to $60 million of assets needed to be sold as part of the council’s financial recovery plan. Now we are told the council is back on a sound financial footing but the asset flog off continues in the disguise of this bulk land reclassification.”
Fellow CEN Executive Member, Joy Cooper, said the Peninsula Plaza has had over 30 years to fix its loading dock and done nothing.
“It is not up to Central Coast Council to provide Woolworths with a cheap solution,” Ms Cooper said. “Where is your credibility, Mr Hart? Why are you putting the ‘needs’ of a mega-corporation like Woolworths ahead of the needs of the current and future residents of the Woy Woy Peninsula?
“How many more times will this council under administration make a deal with a corporation to sell off public land at mate’s rates?”
“So Central Coast Council’s reclassification of 80 lots of land from operational to community looks great until you scratch the surface,” Ms Harije said. “I sincerely hope that this time Mr Hart sides with the community he is supposed to represent and rejects the reclassification of Austin Butler AC.
“Mr Hart should also give an update on the status of the airport masterplan, the results of the RFI and why there is such a lack of transparency around the staff’s plans for the airport. “He should add Porters Creek Wetland to the list of assets to be reclassified as community land.”
The meeting
Ms Harije, who addressed Mr Hart during the public forum prior to the council meeting, ended up being disappointed by the outcome, along with around 30 community members who attended the council meeting to hear the outcome of the bulk land reclassification resolution.
Mr Hart surprised the community by announcing his intention to give residents the choice between keeping Austin Butler AC in public hands or selling it to Peninsula Plaza and using the proceeds of the sale to invest in ‘greening’ the Woy Woy peninsula.
Mr Hart said he would include this choice as part of the broader consultation for the bulk reclassification which he adopted as a resolution of council.
The 2000 square metre parcel of land known as Austin Butler Access will be placed on public exhibition to seek community feedback on whether the site should be retained in council ownership or sold to facilitate the expansion of Peninsula Plaza.
Mr Hart said the community was being given an opportunity to decide about the long-term future of their area, particularly from a community greening and street tree perspective.
“I have heard from dozens of community members about the importance of the trees on this site and, more broadly, about the lack of mature shade trees throughout Woy Woy and the Peninsula. I resolved at the 22 August council meeting that the community’s perspective on this matter is paramount. I will be guided by the community’s perspective through further consultation on the following two options. (A) The site is retained in council ownership which would stop the sale process or (B) the site is sold with all proceeds from the sale allocated to greening of the local community, for example, via an extensive street tree planting program.
“Considering the value of this land is in the millions of dollars, the resultant greening program (delivering thousands of trees) would be fully funded and could deliver a significant, long-term and meaningful boost to canopy cover, shade, and mature trees in the local area. A greening program would go a very long way to offsetting the heat impacts associated with reduced tree canopy and climate change.”
Legal implications
However, the Community Environment Network responded to Mr Hart’s additional consultation by describing it as an attempt to “pull the shade” over the community’s eyes.
CEN said Mr Hart was “flouting both the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) and the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) in his latest attempt to sell Austin Butler AC.
CEN Chair, Mr Gary Chestnut, said the land, known as part of 1 Austin Butler AC, was currently zoned RE1 Public Recreation which means it can only be used for public open space or for recreation purposes. Under its current zoning, it cannot be sold for commercial use.
“Central Coast Council, as the vendor of this land, has resolved to execute a ‘Deed of Option to Purchase Agreement’. This ‘Deed’ requires Council, as the current owner, to allow a commercial operator to lodge a planning proposal to amend the Central Coast Local Environment Plan 2022,” Mr Chestnut said. “Such action is totally contrary to good governance.
“This is yet another example of Central Coast Council, during this period of administration, attempting to sell public land, our land, without adhering to due process,” he said. “The evidence of Central Coast Council’s alleged unlawful behaviour in relation to the sale of public land continues to mount without any response from the NSW Government, pre- or post the March election.
“The Council acknowledged in 2021 that the NSW Government was unlikely to allow this land to be rezoned as commercial because it is flood prone. On that basis the council resolved to amend the Local Environmental Plan (LEP) to make commercial activities permissible on this site.
“They have failed to tell the community that the correct process for amending the LEP should be the same as the process for rezoning the land. It is up to NSW Planning and the community must be consulted. It is not for the council to pre-empt the outcome by pushing ahead with a conditional sale, reclassification or pretending the community has to choose between keeping its existing trees or selling them on the promise of future spending to provide shade.
“Mr Hart, who was Acting CEO when the decision was made to include part of 1 Austin Butler AC in the 2020-21 asset sale program, should know better than to present a recommendation that states: ‘That subject to an executed contract of sale, Council provide owners consent for Peninsula Plaza, to manage and lodge a planning proposal for the reclassification of part of Lot 9 in DP 235385, 1 Austin Butler AC, Woy Woy from community to operational land.’
“Anyone who has any understanding of the reclassification of community land to operational land knows it is not Peninsula Plaza responsibility to reclassify land but Council’s.
“Fortunately, the above recommendation was not adopted by the interim Administrator Dick Persson but it highlights the lack of good governance which is compounded in later decisions when Mr Hart moved into the position of Administrator when dealing with part of 1 Austin Butler AC.
“Mr Hart, along with the Director of Environment and Planning, Dr Alice Howe, and the Council’s property team, must know that the land cannot be reclassified, rezoned and offered for sale for commercial purposes all at once. Their attempt to work around this by proposing to amend the LEP is equally irresponsible.”
According to Mr Chestnut and CEN, Mr Hart’s latest challenge to the community to choose between keeping the trees in Austin Butler reserve or using the proceeds from its sale to pay for “greening the Woy Woy Peninsula” is an attempt to “divide the community and take our attention away from the council’s alleged unlawful actions.
“We usually say the ‘wool is being pulled over your eyes,’ but this time it’s the ‘possibility of shade’,” Mr Chestnut said. “Mr Hart’s offer to green the Woy Woy Peninsula using proceeds from the sale of 4,130 square metres of public land zoned for public recreation is a decoy and the community should not be fooled.
“In fact, CEN urges Mr Hart to seek legal advice. We believe his resolution from the August 22 council meeting is unlawful, along with earlier resolutions related to the asset sale program, and in need of rescission.
“Mr Hart is supposed to be representing the best interests of the community. Instead, he is behaving like a buyer’s agent for a corporation.
“The irresponsibility of this resolution becomes even clearer when you realise that the proposal is to redevelop the Peninsula Plaza, including the existing car park, and use the Austin Butler AC for commercial car parking.
“This latest effort to sell off public green space has nothing to do with fixing the council’s finances, nothing to do with saving local jobs or public safety in the existing car park, and nothing to do with intergenerational equity.
“We all know the value of established native trees, particularly the dominant species on this land, for soil stability, flood resistance, habitat and shade. There is no financial need to sell this land. The owners of Peninsula Plaza and their anchor tenant could redevelop their property at their own cost and in a manner to make it flood-proof. They don’t need council assistance in the form of cheap real estate. “If Mr Hart won’t rescind the motion and acknowledge that council’s actions are contrary to good governance, Mr Chestnut is calling upon the Local Member for Gosford Liesl Tesch, to call upon her Minister for Planning to publicly announce that the Department of Planning will not grant a gateway approval to amend CCLEP 2022 when Council has already entered a commercial contract to sell the land because Council cannot assess the planning proposal as it has a direct conflict of interest.”
Jacquelene Pearson is a casual employee of the Community Environment Network
