Council Watch

Watching Central Coast Council on behalf of fair-minded and reasonable people.

Central Coast Council Watch

March meeting highlights

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Staff respond to discussion paper.

Staff complained of being bombarded with reforms in their submission on the State Department’s discussion paper on short and long term rental accommodation.

The administrator did not deal with this item due to his previously noted non pecuniary interest with a relative having a property on the coast used as a short term accommodation.

However, the letter to the Minister for Planning, Housing and Infrastructure setting out Council’s position in response to the exhibition materials on short and long term rental accommodation known as the STRA discussion paper has already been sent and the report was purely to be noted.
The letter states that:
“Council continues to be concerned with the raft and manner of the reforms being proposed by the Department, with the enormity of the reforms being proposed, Council resources are being diverted to address these reforms and away from the critical work of governing at the local level.
“While we value the opportunity to contribute, the Department should consider longer exhibition periods and a more strategic delivery program that enables Council’s to contribute meaningfully and not have to dedicate important resource to a constant bombardment of reforms.
“While importantly the NSW Government recognises the need for housing reform, this crisis isn’t new and over simplifying and expediting the response to a very complex and integrated problem will never lead to smart solutions.”
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Terrigal site gets go ahead for rezoning process
The Administrator adopted the recommendation to prepare a Planning Proposal for 310 Terrigal Drive, Terrigal
Planning acting director explained the changes to the plans since it has been assessed by the Local Planning Panel, including reductions suggested by the panel in height and floor space ratios.
It will come back to council after the gateway process.
May be an image of road, street and text that says "Photomontage: Charles Kay Drive and Terrigal Drive intersection"
 
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Smaller lot sizes allowed at Eco Village
A rezoning plan for Narara Eco Village will now go ahead which amends the zoning and minimum lot size provisions applying to the village at 33 Gugandi Road, Narara.
The new minimum lot size applying to the R2 – Low Density Residential land changes from 550m² to 450m².
The proposal also enables small scale commercial uses (comprising a maximum Gross Floor Area (GFA) of 1,500m² including 200m² food and drink premises), attached dwellings and multi dwelling housing (maximum of 15 additional multi-dwelling houses) as additional permitted uses on the site.
The site, about 62.97 hectares, was formerly occupied and operated as the Gosford Horticulture Research and Advisory Station under the control of the NSW Department of Primary Industry.
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Operating surplus of almost $33M
Employee costs are $4.4M favourable to budget due to vacancies across multiple council units.
At 29 February 2024, Council has an operating surplus of $32.8M, compared to a YTD budget of an operating deficit of ($2.3M).
“The budgeted net operating position will fluctuate throughout the financial year, reflecting income and expenditure timing,” Council said.
For 2023/2024 FY Council has budgeted, on a consolidated basis, an operating surplus before capital income of $8.3M.
For the reporting period, Council is performing better than budget.
“To date, there are no concerns regarding Council’s financial performance for the remainder of the financial year,” the report states.