Caravan Park Subdivision Application
The fate of our Caravan Park has been an ongoing community concern for some years. This time last year we advised in our newsletter that the owner of the Caravan Park had now made a Planning Application to Council for subdivision of the land into 14 lots.
In response, the Sandy Point Community Group (SPCG) made a submission to Council, and recently representatives of the SPCG Committee made a presentation to a Council hearing on the matter at the Sandy Point Community Centre. Council is still considering community submissions and we are currently awaiting a decision.
Our position remains as outlined below, which summarises our submission to Council. Whilst the Sandy Point Community Group (SPCG) acknowledges that this is privately owned land, we all note the public and commercial benefit of a caravan park that is in and adjacent to our town centre. Community endorsement of this position is well known and well publicised
To that end we have endorsed Professor Rob McGuaran's objection to the Planning Application. Professor McGuaran is a member of the Sandy Point Community Group, a noted Architect and Urban Designer and has worked tirelessly with our sub-committees on a number of initiatives.
In essence we argue:
1. That the form of the subdivision, if approved, could be improved by maintaining the two existing entry points with an internal roadway so that the perimeter of the caravan park/subdivision remains as is, with no conflict between driveways, parking, vegetation, and pedestrian and bicycle movement.
2. That the loss of community benefit should be off-set by a public open space contribution, as is commonplace in other jurisdictions in relation to planning applications such as this. The concept diagram below is one idea of how this could work.
Our view collectively, as previously endorsed by the community, is that the most beneficial location for a camping site is in the town centre, where it provides benefit to businesses and access to the patrolled beach. Its loss, if subdivision is approved by Council and the Catchment Management Authority, could be compensated in part by the creation of a village green as shown which would augment various community activities.
We will post an update here when the Council announces its decision.
