PLANS to build a Masters Home Improvement store in Port Macquarie have been dealt a blow.
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A vote to rezone land on the corner of John Oxley Drive and the Oxley Highway was narrowly lost at Wednesday’s Port Macquarie-Hastings Council meeting.
The rezoning is necessary to permit a proposed bulky goods development including a Masters Home Improvement store on the site.
Councillors put the rezoning proposal on hold until the completion of a local government area-wide traffic management study and review of the Urban Growth Management Strategy.
The traffic management study is 18 months to two years away from completion.
The deferral decision could potentially delay the creation of more than 200 jobs and a $20 million capital investment in the town.
A concept design includes a Masters Home Improvement store and other bulky goods retail on the former Port Gateway Residential Park site.
King and Campbell director Scott Marchant said the landowner was disappointed with the 4-3 vote against the initial recommendation to proceed with the rezoning and was very concerned about the costs associated with the two year delay in the development.
Mayor Peter Besseling and councillors Lisa Intemann and Justin Levido voted in favour of the rezoning, with Mike Cusato, Geoff Hawkins, Trevor Sargeant and Rob Turner voting against the rezoning proposal.
Cr Sargeant, who questioned job figures, said the council was being lured by the possibility of attracting a large corporation and lured by the $7 million for traffic lights.
“I think the traffic lights are just a band-aid solution to a much larger traffic network problem and if we just install traffic lights there that will just push the problem further towards Lake Road which is already under great stress,” Cr Sargeant said.
The council deferred a rezoning decision in December pending a solution to traffic issues at the Wrights Road roundabout.
The state government later announced up to $7 million for traffic lights at the intersection.
The developer has made a commitment of $500,000 towards the intersection upgrade.
Cr Levido warned the deferral would do terrible damage to the council’s reputation and questioned why the council had suddenly changed the goal posts.
“Tonight we will be judged not by what we say but what we do,” he told the council meeting.
“In the future, when people say open for business but not for sale, remember tonight.
“When people say we have a great Economic Development Strategy and a great economic development portfolio, remember tonight.”
But Cr Turner believes the traffic issues had been underestimated.
“I think the impact on Lake Road will be horrendous,” he said.
Cr Besseling said if the council wanted to attract investors to the area, it could do no more than ask investors to align themselves with council’s policies.
“The traffic issues have been resolved to the satisfaction of RMS [Roads and Maritime Services] and I can see no reason we should not move forward on this,” Cr Besseling said.
Access to Port Macquarie Base Hospital was Cr Cusato’s main concern, given there was no secondary access, while Cr Hawkins said the council should review the Urban Growth Management Strategy and complete the traffic network study before making a rezoning decision.
Cr Intemann was satisfied the intersection upgrade would take place before the development opened and said the facts did not support the notion that council had been lured by a large company.