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Collapse Issue 561:<br />23 Jan 2023<br />_____________Issue 561:
23 Jan 2023
_____________
Collapse  NEWS NEWS
Draft flood plan proposes new minimum floor levels
Sammy Seal becomes ferry passenger
Meeting to discuss floodplain and council land plans
Working together 20 years later
Council may spend $133,000 on rare bushland project
Liberals select former councillor as election candidate
Nambus leaves Ettalong for Phillip Island
Taken to hospital
Family fun at Pearl Beach for Australia Day
Wednesday night bingo resumes
Sunny weather for a trip to Patonga
Men's Shed to consider conferring life membership
Bling It Up Gala to raise money for the Iris Foundation
Car boot sales return to Rogers Park
Donation for renovations to Umina CWA hall
Donation to youth cottage
Palm Beach ferry diverted
Rotary club prepares for year ahead
Body of missing bushwalker found at Patonga
Help with a tow
Events planned at Pearl Beach hall
Maritime-themed play area is open
RSL sub-branch to hold annual meeting
Call wildlife rescue for help with tangled birds
Month's rainfall is about average
Collapse  PLANNING PLANNING
Dual occupancy application resubmitted under new rules
Plan model is based on one flood event 35 years ago
Flood study tells of smaller extent and shallower depths
Flooding consultation is 'second round'
Collapse  FORUM FORUM
Good Samaritan helps a wild creature in need
Need for relief for the elderly at the bus stop
Wanting to walk, but where's the shade?
Do something before we have a fatality
Community is secondary without development foresight
'Low density' is not 94 people on two residential blocks
Collapse  HEALTH HEALTH
New Covid health management plan welcomed
New aged care executive appointed
Active virus numbers lowest in two months
Collapse  ARTS ARTS
Bush dance continues after 25 years
Troubadour expands its range of concerts and activities
Free mardi gras viewing party in Ettalong
Collapse  EDUCATION EDUCATION
Princess the pup is back
Parents raise $18,000 for school, with more to come
Bathroom upgrade for junior students
Bluey features on new basketball court
Students urged to take up training opportunities
List of items for Ettalong students
Start dates announced for Woy Woy campus
Uniform shop opens from Friday
Instructions for first day Year 7 students
Collapse  SPORT SPORT
Bunnies to return to senior competition?
Spot the rip
Boardriders seek member registrations before March
Grommet boardriders to hold registration day
Premier 'joins' Umina surf patrol
Bridge club trials Wednesday afternoon competition
Disabled surfers need volunteers for February event
Veteran bowlers surveyed on format preferences
Charity bowlers raise $1650
Umina United to hold junior grading
Eagles schedule pennant trials
Umina Rookies attend Central Coast challenge
Roosters to hold girls' meet and greet night

EXTRA!!!

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Community is secondary without development foresight

The hasty and little-supported rezoning of the Ettalong waterfront is just one more example of the inadequacy of the newly-minted Development Control Plan to instil any confidence in the community about the council's management capabilities or to give any indication of a stable framework for the future shape of the Peninsula.

If there is any justification of the change, beyond its providing an opportunity to increase developers' profits, I haven't heard it, and the only supporter of the move that I know of is the Chamber of Commerce.

We could compare this situation with the Chamber's unfortunate promotion of the nondescript West St building in Umina that also breached the regulations, on the grounds that it would provide a landmark entrance to the shopping area.

We can now see the result and can transpose this outcome to Ettalong which is already disfigured by the Mantra and Atlantis buildings.

Of course, what this schemozzle emphasizes once again is that the Council has no forward-looking development concept for the Peninsula and is only capable of piecemeal reactions to developer initiatives, with the community interest far in the background as a secondary factor.

I pointed out years ago, when it was still in embryo form, that the so-called Regional Plan would give no worthwhile guidance for decision-making on development questions and that any properly organized council would already be preparing real plans and exposing them to the public for genuine consultation.

I recall our previous mayor of fond memory once musing that the future of the Peninsula was something to think about, and I commented at the time that thinking about it was fine, but practical realities required more than just thinking.

At the moment, it seems as though we haven't even got to the thinking stage, so Peninsula residents need to be alert to the stealthy changes being introduced as isolated actions.

We cannot avoid the fact that the Peninsula will be changed by a number of factors outside our control.

Pretending that this will not happen and that we can preserve some Arcadian enclave in Central Coast is absurd.

However, we should all be alarmed by the prospect that the future of the Peninsula is in the hands of unimaginative bureaucrats going through the motions of development management, without any vision, policy, plan, program or procedure that is acceptable to the ones who will eventually be the, dare I say it, victims of this process.

I have no long-term personal interest in this matter, but it pains me professionally to see such incompetent practice being exercised on the Peninsula.

Heaven help us when the new Developers' Committee takes over responsibility for decision-making.





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