Comment: The Warnervale Town Centre issue

The site consists of approximately 15 hectares for retail and commercial uses and 64 hectares for residential uses. The remainder of the site will be zoned for open space, conservation and special activities, including an 8-hectare nature reserve that is being created primarily to protect the Commonwealth-listed Heath Wrinklewort daisy a threatened species found in the area.

The Warnervale Town Centre precinct was first proposed in the 1970s.

Various planning work was done over the years, but nothing concrete was committed until around 2000 when Wyong Council seriously started to work on the project.

After years of delay the NSW Government declared the Warnervale Town Centre a State Significant Site after difficulties associated with Wyong Council’s determination of the location of the retail component of the town centre. This occurred in 2006.

Over the years there has been a lot of finger pointing as to who is responsible for the delays with this project – but that needs to be put aside now and focus should be on bringing the land to the market in the quickest possible time.

In 2008 the final concept plan was completed and the Development Control Plan was released by the NSW Department of Planning.

This allowed for the next stages of the project to begin. This includes the determination of a Developer Contribution Plan (Section 94) by Council and the State Infrastructure Charge (SIC).

These two costs have a significant bearing on the viability of the project.

The current State Infrastructure Contributions (SIC) Plan that applies to the Warnervale Town Centre Special Infrastructure Contributions Area seeks to levy $140,000 per hectare of residential land within the Warnervale Town Centre (WTC) site. The levy only applies to land that is zoned R1 General residential under the State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) Major Development. If the land was to be developed at a density of 20 dwellings per hectare then the levy would equate to a cost of $7,000 per lot.

The SIC Plan contribution is to partially fund regional road upgrades and conservation offsets. The existing SIC plan is currently being revised in line with the Government's December 2008 changes to State contributions to increase
affordability.

The SIC plan levy does not apply to the commercial core of the WTC site which has a commercial zoning. This approach is consistent with the approach that has been applied in the North West and South West Growth Centres and is designed to help fast track employment opportunities.

Wyong Shire Council is also working on its Developer Contribution Plan (Section 94).

This plan impacts on both the residential and commercial sections of the development.

In 2009 the NSW Government made a directive to all Councils that the Section 94 Contribution for new areas needed to be set at $20 000 per residential block subject to Council making submission for an increased amount.

Wyong Shire Council made a submission to the Planning Minister based on their view of what public infrastructure was needed and the Local Contributions Review Panel determined that the charge would be set at $34 682.11 per residential lot.

This was a significant reduction on the original proposed charge per residential block as the outlined in the Draft Contributions plan.

I understand that this Plan has not yet been finalised.

Until it is, potential developers cannot fully calculate the cost of developing their land.

This is an important issue as developers need to understand the costs involved in developing their sites before they can calculate their expected returns. (We have also just been through the turbulent last 12 months with the Global Financial Crisis which has impacted particularly in private companies sourcing funds for projects.)

There are also water and sewerage charges on top of the Section 94 Contribution.

The NSW Government has exempted other growth areas in the State from Sydney Water and Hunter Water infrastructure charges, but on the Central Coast the two Councils own and run the water authority so the Government cannot do the same here.

The sum total of these charges and levies potentially make the area uncompetitive with surrounding regions thus we lose business and commercial opportunities (jobs and investment) to those areas.

The UDIA Central Coast correctly indicated in their submission when the plans were exhibited that there is a very high proportion of community facilities, open space, water facilities that should be considered as regional assets as they will serve the broader community. Consequently the cost/benefit should be spread over a larger population than that espoused under the draft S94 contributions plan.

More needs to be done to spread the load across the whole Shire which will ultimately benefit from the new facilities at the Town Centre.

No one would dispute that there is essential infrastructure needed in the Town Centre, but this should be staged and the burden shared.

I think that as a community there is a general feeling that affordable housing is important. The dream of owning your own home is in the forefront of most people’s minds when they gain employment and start a family.

Clearly Sydney has become too expensive for the average person with high mortgages and associated transport infrastructures issues.

The Warnervale Town Centre site has a competitive advantage as it is located close to the F3 Freeway and will have its own station giving access to both Newcastle and Sydney.

In my role as Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast and Member for Wyong I have ensured the NSW Government is fully aware of these issues.

Premier Kristina Keneally in her former role as Planning Minister allocated the resources of the Planning Department to assist with these issues.

This has included negotiations with landholders and was crucial in gaining a commitment from Landcom to proceed with their residential development.

The Department of Industry and Investment through Minister for the Central Coast Ian Macdonald are looking at possible financial assistance to Wyong Shire Council for the building of the Access Road to the site.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet Regional Co-ordinator has been working tirelessly to try and solve roadblocks and the new Office for the Central Coast in Premier and Cabinet has also been working on issues including visits to the site by Senior Department of Planning Officials. They have also been liaising with the RTA, RailCorp, Energy Australia and Wyong Shire Council.

The success of the Central Coast Region Strategy and the Regional Economic Development and Employment Strategy (REDES) is reliant on the resolution of these issues.

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