Kiddies Corner – Palm Beach
It’s been another challenging year, and we are always mindful of the words in our charter –
The executive of the Palm Beach & Whale Beach Assoc recently met with Scott Phillips, CEO of the Northern Beaches Council (NBC) to discuss a variety of topics and issues.
Conservation Zones Palm Beach & Whale Beach
The New South Wales government recently announced the new zoning areas for New South Wales.
Fortunately Palm Beach and Whale Beach remain predominantly a conservation zone (C4) area. All of the residential lots in Whale Beach are zoned C4. Fifty two residential lots in Palm Beach are zoned R2 (residential) which allows for dual occupancy. We believe that all Palm Beach & Whale Beach should be zoned C4 conservation. We have asked for more detail as to why there are some small pockets zoned R2.
The New South Wales government planning department seems to be backing down on its plans to increase the housing density around town centres. Further details are expected to be announced shortly.
Development Applications
Commercial
1102 Barrenjoey Rd Palm Beach (the former fish and chip shop site)
We gave evidence at an on-site hearing of the Land and Environment Court along with a number of neighbours and members of the Community. The Court then adjourned for a further hearing. New plans had been submitted which in fact were a bit worse than the original plans. The Council and the Developer came to an agreement despite the fact that there are multiple breaches of the LEP and DCP and geotechnical concerns.
The Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel had actually rejected the DA.
Despite this and the views and concerns of the Community the Land and Environment Court upheld the appeal against the decision of the Northern Beaches Planning Panel and the development application has now been passed by the Court.
Further details can be found in the following article published in Pittwater Online News.
https://www.pittwateronlinenews.com/Palm-Beach-fish-and-chip-DA-approved-by-LE-Court.php
1112 – 1116 Barrenjoey Rd Palm Beach (the former General Store site).
The developer has submitted amended plans removing one floor and two apartments, however there are still multiple non-compliant areas. We have put in a submission (as have many in the Community) and there will be an on-site Land and Environment Court hearing on the 18th February 2025.
The Joey (Barrenjoey Boatshed)
Council and the Applicant have come to an agreement on the appropriate noise levels to be complied with during the operation of the approved restaurant use and any ancillary use.
The final agreed Conditions and Plan of Management are –
- Open as a restaurant Monday to Sunday 7 am to 11 pm.
- Functions must be ancillary to the restaurant. Two functions can be held in each seven day period with a maximum of 140 patrons.
- The upstairs room must be available as a restaurant for 12 patrons while functions are held.
- Noise management – conditions must be complied with.
The parties intend to sign an s34 agreement seeking orders that the modification application be approved subject to agreed conditions.
Residential Development Applications
The are a number of residential DAs being currently assessed including one at 15 Ocean Rd Palm beach next door to the Palladium. This DA was refused by Council due to multiple breaches but the decision has been appealed by the Applicant and there will be an on-site hearing of the Land and Environment Court in May 2025.
We are concerned that, despite breaches of controls in the Pittwater LEP and DCP, a number of residential DAs are approved by the Council on the basis of “merit”. We have tried to get clarity or a definition of merit but have been told that the decision depended on the individual DA.
Financial position of NBC.
Council has reported that it has been hit with significant costs over recent years which makes the long term financial outlook unsustainable.
Scott Phillips (CEO) reported that there is a shortfall of $52 million required to improve services and maintain assets and the gap is growing every year.
Council believes that the only solution is to increase the rates and will be mounting a case for a variation of rates to the independent regulator IPART.
The total NBC budget is $500 million of which 60% comes from rates. The median rate is $1380. Most of the properties in Palm Beach & Whale Beach would be paying over $5000 p/a in rates. There are 1500 residences in PB & WB and total rates paid in these suburbs is approx $8 million.
The largest portion of Council expenditure is on wages at 39%. There doesn’t seem to have been any serious attempt to reduce this.
Council is seeking comment from the Community and has put forward 4 options ranging from the usual rate increase of 3.8% to a 46% increase.
If the maximum request for rate increases is passed it will add approximately $2500 to $3000 to each rate bill in Palm Beach and Whale Beach.
Details can be found on the Council website “Have Your Say.” Please submit your thoughts. Submissions close on Sunday 12th January. To date 3440 submissions have been lodged.
Click here: https://yoursay.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/funding-our-future
Click here: Webinar – NBC information session on YouTube
I also suggest you send any comments direct to the councillors at council@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
There will be a special Council meeting at the end of January to discuss which option should be adopted.
Enforcement
One of the major problems at present is the lack of enforcement of regulations on parking, traffic and on building sites including TMPs (Traffic Management Plans). We were advised that the reason for this was that the Council has several vacancies for compliance officers/rangers but it is impossible to fill the jobs.
Governor Phillip Park.
The Park is in urgent need of maintenance however we are advised that there is no money available at present. We believe that the fees and charges which Home and Away pay (set to a large extent by NSW Govt) are inadequate. Council has advised that the NSW Government is developing a new formula to charge for filming.
A new Plan of Management (PoM) is being prepared by Council which would include a policy for “Dogs off-Leash” on the northern end of North Palm Beach. The PoM will be available for public consultation in the first half of next year.
NSW Govt 30 km/h Zones in Palm Beach and Whale Beach / “Safer Neighbourhood Program”.
The proposal from the NSW Government is for a 30 kph zone in all the streets east of Barrenjoey Road in Palm Beach and Whale Beach extending down to North Avalon. It also includes installation of noisy speed humps and more traffic signs.
The Program has been implemented in Manly and is under consideration for Narrabeen to Mona Vale and North Balgowlah.
The City of Sydney is planning to reduce speed limits to 30km/h in busy areas where lots of people walk and ride bikes ie in the city centre. The proposal in Palm Beach and Whale Beach is over a large residential area with low traffic and pedestrian flows and is completely different. The evidence from overseas is that it works in large city areas. Where is the evidence that it will work in such a large residential area?
PBWBA has discussed this proposal with our Committee and our members.
There is no consensus on the proposal. Some of the Committee and our members are in favour, however a number are not convinced and would like further information before they can make a decision.
The justification for the proposal is that there will be fewer accidents with the lower speed. However the evidence produced shows the number of accidents is already low and lacks detail. However, anecdotally it appears that minor incidents and near misses go unreported.
The present speed limit in this area is generally 40 km/h however it is very poorly sign posted and not enforced.
The roads are narrow and steep in some areas and difficult to negotiate. The main problem navigating the roads is the obstruction caused by tradies’ vehicles and other vehicles parked carelessly and illegally which block the roads and obscure sight lines. Few streets have footpaths thus requiring motorists and pedestrians to share the road.
The first thing which needs to be done is to enforce the 40k/h speed, the road parking rules and the traffic management plans (TMPs) of buildings sites by Council Rangers.
Many roads are in a poor state of repair and need urgent maintenance. The maintenance work needs to be thoroughly engineered for longevity rather than to install a simple patch which quickly breaks down.
The budget, funded by the NSW Govt. for this “Safer Neighbourhood Program”, is in excess of $450,000 which is a great deal of money. There is opinion that the money would be better spent in repairing the roads and doing regular road maintenance.
We would like Northern Beaches Council to produce more justification and evidence of how this proposal will work and how it intends to enforce it in Palm Beach and Whale Beach.
Even if this proposal does not go ahead please note the following detailed PBWBA recommendations:
- This program needs to be coupled with an holistic study of where yellow ‘no parking’ lines should be installed to allow motorists and others to have a clear view ahead on our narrow roads;
- Ocean Place in its entirety needs to be clearly marked as a 10kph shared zone;
- 30kph stamps are not needed in cul de sacs (rather than through roads) as they tend to attract only local traffic. Examples include Mitchell Road and Sunrise Road;
- One of the dangerous corners which appears to have been overlooked in the study is at the junction of Bynya Road and Surf Road. At present there are stop signs in both directions at this junction to allow Bynya Road traffic to freely enter Surf Road. There is no indication on the maps that these signs will be retained yet they are essential for safety. Every day there are near misses when Surf Road traffic, whether going east or west, fails to stop at the stop sign and proceed into the path of southbound vehicles entering Surf Road from Bynya Road. Not only should the Stop signs be retained but flat top speed humps need to be installed at a suitable distance from the stop signs as a deterrent to motorists ploughing through this intersection without stopping;
- We observe that a stop sign is proposed at the bottom of Norma Road where it meets Whale Beach Road and request traffic engineers to explore any additional measures to make this corner safer for vehicles leaving Norma Road and entering Whale Beach Road. At present, it is extremely difficult to see either northbound or southbound oncoming traffic travelling along Whale Beach Road when entering Whale Beach Road from Norma Road;
- Audible lane markings are required where Bynya Road meets Norma Road. Vehicles travelling north along Bynya Road and entering Norma Road tend to cut this corner as it is an oblique angle.
Christmas Cocktail Party
We recently enjoyed a very successful Christmas party at the Dunes with 110 of our members attending, together with the Member for Mackellar Dr Sophie Scamps, Member for Pittwater Jacqui Scruby, NBC Mayor Sue Heins and NBC Councillor Miranda Korzy.
Christmas Cocktail Party at the Dunes.
Via our monthly informal Coffee Meetings and our Newsletters we keep you informed of issues and news relevant to our beautiful area. Our Committee works very hard and I’m very lucky to have such a good committee. On your behalf I thank them for their work.
We thank the Pacific Club for allowing us to hold our Committee Meetings and Coffee Mornings at the venue and also Jason Marty from Intervision for his technical work with our Newsletters and alerts. Finally, we thank NBC Community Liaison Coordinator Andrew Johnston who attends all our meetings and is an invaluable conduit to Council.
Our charter states that our main aim is to preserve the environment in which we live and its residential amenity. We have been doing that for 106 years and I think when you look around Palm Beach and Whale Beach, working with numerous state governments and Councils, we have done a remarkable job.
Palm Beach & Whale Beach are unique with virtually all low-rise residential and we intend to keep it that way!
it is, however, getting more and more difficult due to new policies of the New South Wales State Government and the Northern Beaches Council. I thank our 460 plus members for their support.
If you have any comments on the issues which I have raised could you please email them to me? It is important that we get to know and understand your views.
email: westsireland@yahoo.com.au
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Richard West AM
President of the Palm Beach &Whale Beach Association
westsireland@yahoo.com.au
0407 942941
Barrenjoey Lighthouse looking towards Palm Beach (courtesy Susi Hanke)
