Clover's eNews—Friday, 7 October 2005—No. 267BACKPACKER AND SEX SERVICES DCPS ON EXHIBITIONPublic comment is now invited on the City of Sydney’s draft Backpacker, Visitor and Tourist Accommodation Development Control Plan (DCP) and draft Adult Entertainment and Sex Service DCP. The two DCPs provide guidelines for these types of commercial activities which include minimising adverse impacts on residential amenity. The new draft Backpacker, Visitor and Tourist Accommodation DCP brings together five sets of controls, which the City inherited following the May 2003 boundary changes, and the forced amalgamation of the City and South Sydney Councils in 2004. It applies to all types of visitor and tourist accommodation except for boarding houses and serviced apartments. The draft DCP includes guidelines to ensure acceptable levels of health, safety and amenity for guests, including the elimination of bedbugs, energy use, water efficiency, potable water supply and materials selection. Other guidelines aim to prevent adverse impacts on the local environment and reduce the possibility of illegal backpacker hostels by ensuring plans of management, on-site management and annual certification. Council adopted the draft DCP as an interim policy on 12 September, and also resolved to investigate ways of applying the new provisions to existing backpacker establishments. The draft Adult Entertainment and Sex Service Premises DCP is based on the three existing policies and will provide comprehensive planning and health controls relating to adult entertainment and sex service premises for the whole City of Sydney area. The DCP aims to prevent clustering of sex service premises and restrict them from being located within residential areas. The DCP also provides guidelines relating health and safety for workers and clients. A workshop involving the AIDS Council of NSW, Sex Workers Outreach Project, Striptease Artists Australia and key community groups is being held as part of the community consultation on the draft DCP. I strongly urge people who are interested in or concerned about the issues dealt with in these DCPs to make submissions. The draft DCPs are available for downloading from the City’s website, www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. Select “On Exhibition” from the Council drop down menu on the homepage. The draft DCPs may also be viewed at the One Stop Shop in Town Hall House and at the City’s Neighbourhood Service Centres. The closing date for submissions is 1 November. FOLEY PARK PLAN OF MANAGEMENT ADOPTEDCouncil has adopted a new Plan of Management for Foley Park, on the corner of Glebe Point Road and Bridge Road. The park is a major focus for the Glebe community and is urgently in need of an upgrade. The plan adopts the following vision for the park:
This vision was developed in consultation with the Glebe community and will provide the basis for long term decision making and maintenance of the park. It will also guide the detailed design phase of the upgrade, which will commence soon. The park has significant local heritage value and I am pleased that several key structural elements such as the war memorial, the wireless house, early fig trees and other significant landscape items will be retained and conserved. The footprint of the original “Hereford House” which was built on the site in 1829 will be incorporated into the new design and layout of the park, with the footprint being marked with sandstone tiles. Council is investigating alternative locations for the early childhood centre, which operates in the park. If suitable premises are found, it will be removed to create additional open space in the park. Over $2 million dollars has been allocated to the project and I look forward to seeing work begin in the second half of 2006. BLACKWATTLE BAY PLAN ON EXHIBITIONA Draft Plan of Management covering the area of Blackwattle Bay Park North and the adjoining Blackwattle Bay South will be on exhibition until 1 November. The Plan has been prepared to update the 1999 Plan for the northern area to allow the adaptive re-use of the historic homestead, “Bellevue” and the heritage listed Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator, and to include the new area in the south of the park, which was formerly in Leichhardt Council. The combined area is now known as the East Glebe Foreshore. The Plan of Management establishes a sound and balanced approach to the ongoing management of the entire parkland area and provides a flexible framework to enable Council to respond to changing needs and opportunities over time. The feedback we received at the community meetings has been incorporated into the draft Plan so that it reflects the values and expectations of the Glebe community and other Park users. I am happy to see the important heritage buildings in the park restored and brought to life again. The Plan provides firm guidelines for any future use which will ensure heritage significance is retained, any commercial use of the buildings is complementary to the open space and does not impact significantly on the amenity of the neighbourhood. The Plan also ensures that the primary use of the park continues to be informal active and passive recreation and to prevent any use or development that would encroach on the park’s open space. Facilities for cyclists and pedestrians will be improved by widening the promenade and adding a boardwalk to complete the foreshore walk. This is a significant area of harbour foreshore parkland with important heritage value and its enhancement and on-going management is important. The Draft Plan is available on Council’s website www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. Select “City Improvements” from the Development drop down menu on the homepage, and then click on the Glebe Foreshore link. I encourage you to take the time to review the draft Plan of Management and let us know your views. For further information you can contact Council’s Senior Landscape Architect, Adam Fowler on 9265 9592. GREEN WASTE SERVICE FOR CITY RESIDENTSCity of Sydney residents now have access to a fortnightly, green waste, recycling service to collect garden waste such as grass and plant clippings, leaves and branches. Residents with large gardens requiring a regular service can now request a fortnightly pick-up, while infrequent users can request pick-ups as required. The green waste will be taken to a recycling plant and recycled into other organic products. This service builds on the City’s weekly recycling service and the existing free “book in” service for picking up whitegoods and other household items. For more information on how to participate in this service, or to make a booking, phone the City’s Waste Unit on 1300 651 301 or visit www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. OPEN UP LIQUOR LICENSESI have asked the Minister for Gaming and Racing to amend the Liquor Act 1982 to provide for a more open and participatory process for community input. Residents in the Bligh electorate suffer the impact of liquor licences and 24 hour trading and major entertainment precincts such as Fox Studios, Sporting Stadia, Oxford Street, Taylor Square, and Kings Cross. Bligh is also adjacent to similar precincts in the Sydney Central Activities District. Currently, residents can only object to liquor licenses through a rigid, formal process that requires concerned residents to always look out for advertised notices that can be easily missed, sign Statutory Declarations and gather other people’s signatures in order to object, attend court to wait for the relevant hearing, and give evidence in an intimidating, formal environment. Most residents are unable to invest the considerable time and effort to oppose a liquor license, and cannot attend court to wait for hearings. Many residents find the formal process intimidating. I have asked the Minister to model liquor license applications on the notification and submission process used by local Councils for assessing Development Applications. The City of Sydney’s Notification of Planning and Development Applications DCP 2005 provides one model, with:
CORRECTION – GREEN SQUARE FORUMPlease note that eNews 266 incorrectly stated that the Green Square Community Forum is on Wednesday 10 October, but this should have read Monday 10 October, as listed in the Events listing. EVENT ALERT!
WWW.CLOVERMOORE.COMClover's eNews is a regular update to keep the community informed on important issues, events and campaigns. To join the free email subscription list, email clover@clovermoore.com with SUBSCRIBE eNEWS in the subject and your name, email address and suburb in the body of the email. You can also subscribe here on line. — Clover Moore, Independent Member for Bligh |
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