If you object to high rise development in Nelson Bay we need your urgent help.
Please let your Councillors know, by 12 noon on Tuesday, by e-mailing council@portstephens.nsw.gov.au with ‘Council Meeting 9 July – Agenda item 2’ in the subject field of your email, asking for it to be forwarded to all Councillors before the meeting.
We also need as many people as possible to attend the Council meeting on Tuesday 9 July, at the Council chambers in Raymond Terrace, from 5.30pm, to remind Councillors of the strength of opposition.
The staff report recommends refusal but Councillors could still vote to approve it. We need to let them know loud and clear that this building is simply too high and too bulky for the site on the corner of Yacaaba and Donald Sts. It would largely fill the site of current temporary car park, with a vertical wall of 8 storeys on both street frontages and a minimal setback only on the top (9th) floor. It would be more than twice the current height limit and much taller (and bulkier) than any other buildings in the town centre.
You can read our earlier submissions HERE. The staff report downplays public opposition, mentioning only submissions received for and against the third exhibited design. 175 submissions were made overall in the three rounds of exhibition – 70% of them objecting to a high-rise building. The independent design panel were not asked to review the final design to see if it addressed their significant criticisms, and the staff report contradicts itself on several adverse impacts.
The recommendation for refusal is based on legal precedents that Council’s proposed changes in height limits cannot be taken into account, as they have yet to be put on final public exhibition. If Councillors nevertheless approve the DA, they will have effectively abandoned any height control, so that even their proposed new limits will be worthless.
