Frenchs Forest residents must wait until 2020 for release of town centre rezoning plan
Frustrated residents will now have to wait until next year to see details of proposed rezoning plans so a new town centre can be built at Frenchs Forest.
Manly
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The much-anticipated plan for a new town centre at Frenchs Forest will not be revealed by the end of the year as promised.
Planning officials have confirmed the draft plan would not be put on public exhibition until next year because the location of The Forest High School was yet to be decided.
Planning Minister Rob Stokes told the Manly Daily in July that the details of the proposed rezoning for the town centre would be signed off before December 31.
And as recently as last month the NSW Planning Department said: “The aim is still to have the draft precinct on exhibition before the end of the year.”
Plans for the town centre, expected to accommodate up to 3000 new high-density dwellings, were originally set to be on public exhibition in March 2018.
But a Planning Department spokesman said this week: “The future open space requirements and education needs of the area, including confirmation of plans for the future location of The Forest High School, need to be fully resolved before the new town centre proposal is released for community feedback.
“The draft plan will be exhibited next year,” the spokesman said.
There had been growing community concern that issues raised about the relocation of The Forest High could derail the rezoning timetable for the new town centre situated close to Northern Beaches Hospital.
Community debate began last month about whether it was safe to build the new school on the Warringah Aquatic Centre Reserve — a site of an old landfill dump.
Residents feared that with the Christmas holiday period looming, the NSW Planning would use the school relocation issue as an excuse to delay putting the precinct plan on exhibition.
Householders were keen to know the extent of rezoning because it effects decisions about whether they stay in the area or sold to developers.
One frustrated resident, who asked not be named, said they had been told that the Planning Department had completed the draft town centre plan and was waiting on an announcement by the Minister.
“This plan has been promised and its delivery pledged, ending years of resident turmoil for our community which has had to endure ongoing delay, uncertainty and disruption,” the resident said.
Resident Ken Burton, who lives on the northern side of the proposed precinct, said he had been desperate to hear before Christmas if his land was to be rezoned.
“It’s so disappointing from the Minister, and our local MP Brad Hazzard, that this just can’t be resovled,” Mr Burton said.
“We have been living in limbo since 2014 over this.
“I want to know how our lives will be impacted.
“Please, just tell us.”
In a statement in early November the Education Department confirmed it was conducting a further investigation into the Aquatic Centre site.
Planning said at the time that it was working with the Education Department and Northern Beaches Council to decide the best way to manage the remediation issue and any implications it may have on the masterplan.