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URGENT - Possible threat and Opportunity - Review of Land Zoning of ALL Red Hill and Oxy
Hi all,
The short of it- Sydney is short on land and people want more houses, undeveloped land is being reviewed. There is a public meeting and RSVP.
Whos going? Its a public meeting.
The State Government is reviewing all bushland from Cromer to Mona Vale Road that is not National Park (ie everything south, east and west of Slippery Dip). See everything in white at the following link or below in posts http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/LinkClick.aspx?fi... (opens best in new tab)
From a straight conservationist perspective this is alarming. Most of us would probably prefer to not see any of this land being developed. However development means money which could be used to do some environmental good and also provide recreational assets for the community which could mean funding of trails in protected areas of bush.
Too often in Sydney riding is overlooked when assessments are undertaken on undeveloped land. We need to show Department of Planning that mountain biking is a very important and valued use of Oxy and Red Hill.
Please remember to be sensitive of our good relationships and that following meetings with land owners TrailCare is drafting MOU's with them to provide formal access and proper trails here. The land owners generally want to work with us.
It is highly unlikely we lose all the bush (maybe only a small part of it), we however need to show that riding is a valued main stream activity that needs to be considered and provided for, we need to show we are easy to work, and that we can be part of the solution/resolution for the area.
It also needs to be shown that Belrose Tip, Manly Dam and Bantry (if built) can not cater for all riders in the beaches. Red Hill and Oxy as they are currently have around 140,000 visits per year by riders alone and the network doesn’t officially exist.
At this stage the Department of Planning are just consulting with the public to find out how the community values this area before making any decisions. RSVP by 3 October by emailing ofbn-review@planning.nsw.gov.au. If you read this after this date still RSVP anyway. http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/planning-reviews-...
The public meeting is being held Monday 15 October 2012 from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at Forestville Memorial Hall (corner Starkey St and Warringah Rd, Forestville). Staff from both Council and the Department will be available on the night to explain the strategic review and answer questions. To attend the session, register by email to ofbn-review@planning.nsw.gov.au by Wednesday 3 October 2012.
Warringah Council were wanting to turn the whole area into an Environmental Protection zone which would be fine for mountain biking. However this never got sign off which is why the State and Council are now consulting with the community.
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The area that impacts is huuuuge.
It affects pretty much the whole area you were looking at getting an official trail network into, Simon. Scary stuff - would be a major disaster if we lost that to housing.
I've RSVP'd. We need to get as many bums on seats at this meeting as we can.
If someone could please take a screenshot of the PDF and save it to an image-hosting site so we can display the map in an image link, it would be greatly appreciated - I can't do this from work unfortunately.
TIA.
RSVP'd
RSVP's and I'll see you there. Have shared the FB link too.
Here you go Hawkeye
PS, I cant make the quality any better, that's how it looks in the PDF
Click for a larger image
Thanks ChopStiR, couldn't ask for better.
How has this not been in the media! To rezone this space into housing would result in the destruction of our way of life on the Northern Beaches. The Northern Beaches are unique in the natural environment, both bushland and beaches, in such close proximity to a major capital city.
This area of bushland is an asset to be protected, not destroyed through development. Even if I didn't ride MTB I would be as passionately opposed to this rezoning due to the impact on both the natural environment as well as the huge increase in population and the associated impacts that this will bring.
I've posted links on FaceBook on a Northern Beaches group but feel that the word needs to get out further. Do any of the NobMob community have contacts within the Manly Daily or should we all write in to the "opinion pages"?
Never mind bums on seats.... let's aim to overflow the hall with people spilling out onto Starkey Street!
See you at the meeting.
Todays the last day to RSVP, do it people
I'll be there, Ill try and bring the boy and any hangers on.
See you all tomorrow at Mondays meeting.
I'm in too. And while I'm at it I'd just like to say thanks to the trail fairies who have added nicely a couple of berms to the single track loop on top of the Hill. I'm happy to volunteer labour if anyone coordinates it, and I'll be in attendance tomorrow night to defend my choice to ride up there and enjoy those berms. Here is hoping it produces a positive outcome.
Good session tonight.
There was a co-ordinated response from a group of owners under the banner of Warringah Urban Fringe Association; to be honest I felt that they were over represented in their speaking time, particularly as their representative gave a 5 minute plus "comment". THis did have some good information though; the parcel of land has 3 major ownership groups; 500 hectares is MALC, 500 hectares is Crown Land and 200 hectares is made up of 100 privately owned parcels of land; i.e. acreage with houses, horse paddocks, schools, etc.
I posed a question to the group asking them to provide some guidance on the spectrum od development that they considered acceptable. The group claim to have a desire for limited development, less that the existing ability for seniors development, and limited to subdividing blocks of land into 1/2 acre lots.
Simon and Hawkeye both asked questions and got both TrailCare and NobMob into the discussion and were asked to engage directly with the facilitator after the session to ensure the mountain bike community were adequately represented.
One interesting topic that was covered but glossed over was the process of have the crown land added into Garigal National Park. It would b great if TrailCare, NobMob etc could co-ordinate with other groups to start the ball rolling on this... assuming of course we get access to some sweet single trail
.
Cheers to those of you that spoke. Im joining TrailCare now. The MTB community appeared organized and well represented.
The only sign that there wasn't a blindingly obvious win win solution (ie leave 80% of land alone and let the group of small land owners be rezoned for low density development) was the covert attempt at blackmail from WUFA when John let slip he could easily put in a DA for high density seniors living if he wasn't granted low density living options. Not sure what to make of that. Anyway, the zoning proposed seems pretty promising. Fingers crossed. It's encouraging that the State Planning Minister is a local.
There was a lot left unsaid that we need to get clarity on. I've still not got any idea on which parts are open to devekopment and which are environmental protection zones.
There needs to be a lot of detail fleshed out before I'm comfortable the positive vibe is more than talk.
However the combination of 140,000 visitations a year and asking what they were going to do to ensure appropriate stakeholder engagement with this group got some attention, so they will at least be talking to us.
Will post more info as it comes to hand.
Hi all
Thanks to everyone's support, I also quoted the readership numbers of this post which impressed them. Having more than 100 financial members of TrailCare which is focused mainly on advocacy also drew comment. We are larger than the Urban Fringe group. In the scheme of things all recreational riders are the biggest proactive group.
We got the outcome we were after which was for them to realise we are a large, vocal, reasonable and significant stakeholder. The only two being singled out during and hour or so of questions and answers to talk afterwards spoke volumes.
It was also great to see that riders and green group members were largely understanding of each other and supportive. We have all come a long way in the last few years.
There was some quick discussion on turning areas into National Park. There has been a largely unsuccessful push for this over many decades. A NP is a high level of protection, under this are Regional Parks and State Recreation Areas.
I have been talking with people in Parks, government and green groups for a few years. The main feedback is that environmentally and in terms of available funding it is unlikely there is a strong enough case to turn it into a NP.
What there is a strong case for is turning into a State or Regional Park which is how it functions now anyway by providing great social benefits including public recreation.
This is part of what is behind the Draft Oxford Falls Crown Reserve Plan of Management that NobMob and TrailCare founders provided a submission to in 2009. This covers Crown Land in the area. The State Park would also include the lagoon and as much other land as possible.
The Crown Reserve does not yet exist. Held up in part by the zoning review and also the State Park proposal.
The Draft Crown Reserve PoM has actions to resolve riding. However we need linkages between the pockets of Crown Land. TrailCare has ongoing meetings with Crown Lands on this and have been working with Metro Aboriginal Land Council and Academy of Sport to bring them into a combined solution for riding. The last meeting went well and there was agreement to draft a memorandum of understanding which we are finalizing for them to review.
There are some hold ups in this State Park or Crown Reserve process, however TrailCare believes it has negotiated a path forward so that does not hold up rider access and trails.
Well done guys I think the MTB community was well represented last night and it was also good to be backed up by the bush walking lady at the front right near the camera.
I was hoping to introduce myself to you Simon but I spent too much time fanboy-ing it up and missed you
("Be Rude Not To" is my favourite MTB video ATM).
I will be signing up as a Trail Care member soon.
good work fellas reads like solid and ongoing engagement.
Trail Care member