Burt Errington
Mar 7, 2023
Meeting with Bryan Rose and Council
On 16 February 2023 Members of the BAG attended a meeting with Bryan Rose and members of Lake Macquarie City Council Development and Planning Department.
The purpose of this meeting was to try and get a time line, along with an end time date, of the building of the promised shops and park by Coastal Hamlets to the residents of Beaches Estate.
We also wanted confirmation by the Council Planners that we were being given correct information by Bryan Rose so that there would be no misinformation or misunderstanding about the proposed works.
Bryan Rose has outlined the time line as follows: - The civil works were being done on both 3A and 3B. The civil works were being undertaken at the same time and should be completed by end of 2023 - early 2024.
The building of the shops will most likely start by end of 2024 after a DA is lodged with Council. We would therefore expect the completion of the shops and relevant car spaces, to be at mid-2025.
The Council Planners have confirmed they will expedite the DA part of the process which should save 3-6 months on the building process.
We have been pushing for the Park to be situated along Montefiore Parkway and not down at the bottom gully between Clarke and Hale Streets. This way parents using the Café or shops will be able to keep an eye on their kids and also local kids from Beaches will have a closer and safer place to play. The previous location of the park is also a water retention area.
There was no specific news of the 5 Star Hotel that could be given to us because at this stage it was a proposal only that Council would like to see go ahead in the area.
Regardless of the proposed Hotel being built, or not, Bryan was adamant that the Coastal Walkway would still go through.
Bryan was also asked about the rumours about the row of shop – top housing fronting Montefiore, along with the changed height of buildings proposed in Section 3 A&B.
As far as the building height requirements are concerned, these are set out by Council and his development will have to follow these requirements. As for the shop -top housing, these are only possible proposals for the future.
As our members are aware the BAG is predominately concerned about getting the Shops and Park up and running, all else is secondary and we do not want to be distracted by the agendas of others who may/may not be in favour of the other aspects of future developments.
However, we are pushing for, and have been promised by Bryan Rose that he will have ongoing community consultation once the planning stages have been reached. This consultation will be in the form of an open forum where details and specifics of the development will be on display to interested people who can attend a meeting to express their ideas and any issues or concerns they may have, directly with the developer and others involved. That way there can be no room for misinformation or rumour.
At the time of this meeting the BAG asked Bryan Rose to submit to us, in his own words, an outline of what was discussed so that we could post this on our website, so that our members could understand what his processes would look like. Even after repeated requests to get this, to date we have not received such a written response.
We understand that the Catho PA and the Community Alliance have joined forces to block any and all developments to our area and wish to present a “united front” to Council and other parties involved. To this extent they have informed residents that they will be conducting a survey to ascertain what the residents want.
We ask our members to read the survey before completing it, if you wish to complete it. Check to see if the answers you give reflect the true nature of your opinions regarding the shops and park. Don’t be distracted by general talk of development, you will be given the opportunity to consult, not generally but specifically with the developer and other parties when the time comes.
BAG is not an incorporated group and we are not political in any way. Catherine Hill Bay Progress Association has put forward multiple motions in their last meeting agenda that show they are anti-development. The Alliance was supposed to be a separate voice for residents of Beaches that did not agree with what the PA was saying on behalf of “all residents of Catherine Hill Bay”. Now the two groups have come together, they have aligned their goals, which would seem to be completely against getting the shops and park. Don’t be misled into answering a survey that maybe more about getting numbers to support a block on development rather than finding out what people want. As there is no allowance to put your name and address on the letter box hard copies of the survey, there is no way to audit the responses and give any creditability to it.
The Beaches Action Group are pro development that is why we have been fighting for the last three years to have the Shops and park which was promised to us when purchasing our blocks of land.
Everyone who did purchase off the plan in Beaches Estate did so knowing full well there would be further development. Hopefully, now is the time for this to happen!
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