Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams has called a community information forum to discuss the redevelopment of the Food for Less/Plaza carpark site on the foreshore of Port Macquarie.
The forum will be held tonight (Thursday) at 5.30pm at Pier One at Port Macquarie Panthers.
Mrs Williams urged members of the community interested in the development to attend.
“Much has been said lately about the proposed redevelopment of the Food for Less/Plaza carpark in Port Macquarie,” Mrs Williams said.
She said she had organised the forum so that those who were interested could hear all the facts.
“This will give the community the opportunity to hear first-hand about the proposed redevelopment in a non-confrontational environment.
“Former magistrate Wayne Evans will chair the forum with representatives from Crown Lands, Woolworths, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, the Port Macquarie Chamber of Commerce, the Port Macquarie Foreshore Protection Association and the Greater Port Macquarie Tourism Association invited to attend.
“Members of the community will have the opportunity to ask questions on the night.”
The public forum follows a meeting convened by the Port Macquarie property owners’ group last Monday after which Port Macquarie-Hastings mayor Peter Besselling launched a scathing attack on Crown Lands for negotiating directly with Woolworths over the sale of the Plaza carpark site adjacent to Woolworths’ Food for Less site and not advertising the site for expressions of interest.
The mayor also tabled a mayoral minute at the ordinary meeting of council last week to that effect, which the council supported.
However, Mrs Williams maintains that due process had been followed in the negotiations between the Crown Lands department and Woolworths and the sale could make millions of dollars available for foreshore beautification.
***SIDEBAR ***
What the property owners think
LATE last week property owner group spokesperson Jeff Gillespie issued a statement outlining Woolworths’ plans and warning that “if all concerned are not careful about this, we could end up with a much less attractive building and no funds flowing to the community”.
“Woolworths will surely end up with a supermarket on the site, either to the current development application consent, which would be a shame, or to their latest proposal, which is subject to them achieving a deal with the Department of Lands on the Plaza carpark,” he said.
“Let’s tread carefully on this, lest we throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
Mr Gillespie warned that the Plaza carpark site had some drawbacks, which would impact on its value to anyone other than Woolworths.
The site was burdened by the need to provide pantechnicon semi-trailer access to the loading dock located at the rear of the site and the provision of 54 car parking spaces.
These are included in the existing Woolworths development application which has already been approved by the council.
It also has a severely restricting height limit of approximately 2.5 floors due to a key sight line prescribed in the development control plan.
