NINETY-NINE land owners have welcomed a Lake Macquarie City Council decision to adopt an area plan that moves them a step closer to building on their vacant blocks at Buttaba – lots that have been off limits to development for decades.
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None is more happy nor relieved than Joe Henchy.
Mr Henchy, 78, a pensioner from Toukley, has been waiting 34 years for council to permit building on the block he purchased in what is now known as Buttaba Hills South Estate.
When councillors recently voted to adopt the Buttaba Hills South Area Plan, it signalled the breakthrough he and other land owners had been hoping for.
“This is a major win for us,” Mr Henchy said.
“The gallery at council was absolutely full of land owners, and the vote from the councillors was unanimous.”
Mayor Kay Fraser congratulated the land owners, he said.
A council spokesperson said the decision means the residents, who have formed the Buttaba Hills South Action Committee (BHSAC), can now submit a new subdivision layout to council.
Once council approves the layout, work can start to construct roads, provide drainage, sewer, water and communications infrastructure.
“Once subdivision construction is complete, approval can be provided to construct dwellings on the approved lots,” a spokesperson for council said.
This is a major win for us.
- - Joe Henchy
Buttaba Hills South Estate comprises about 34 hectares subdivided into 123 lots.
But there are no formed roads nor service infrastructure. It is what’s known as a ‘paper subdivision’ – that is, a subdivision that exists on paper only. The council spokesperson said the paper subdivision was registered in 1922 “when there was no requirement to construct the roads, drainage or other utility infrastructure that is now required for subdivisions”.
The land was originally zoned rural, but in October 2000 was rezoned to a low-density residential zone (with an area of conservation zoned land along Sawmill Creek).
A development control plan for the neighbouring Buttaba Hills North was adopted in 2004, and that residential estate is now almost fully developed.
BHSAC chairman Colin Hutchinson said the council’s adoption of the Buttaba Hills South Area Plan came as welcome relief, after nine years of work.
“Now our committee will work to provide all of the development application process requirements,” Mr Hutchinson said.
