Port Macquarie's credentials as a major regional hub have been given a boost with the NSW government clearing for take-off of a $58 million expansion of the city's Airport Business Park.
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Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes said the approval of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council's rezoning will get the balance right in providing for more job opportunities by expanding the business park while also dedicating land for koala habitat and protection.
"This rezoning will bring more investment, more jobs and the capacity for more visitors to the Port Macquarie region," Mr Stokes said.
"This approval will see the expansion of the business park by up to 23 hectares to attract high-tech, value-adding industries while allowing for a second aeroplane taxiway and additional land set aside for general aviation use.
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"Nearly two-thirds of the land will be zoned for environmental conservation, including around 300 hectares of protected koala habitat and an additional 50 hectares of koala habitat will be secured off-site."
Member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams said the proposal is a fantastic demonstration of what can be achieved when you take a highly considered and holistic approach to planning.
"This project brings so many great elements to the table for Port Macquarie and our people and will position the city perfectly to emerge rapidly out of the COVID-19 downturn," Mrs Williams said.
"Positioning more jobs and businesses right on the doorstep of our region's airport will solidify Port Macquarie's reputation as a regional export hub and ensure our local goods and services can be more easily accessed by the rest of the state and the country."
When council submitted its planning proposal for approval in May, Cr Rob Turner said the airport business park project has been a long time coming and arrives with "environmental wins" for the community.
"This is not a business park we are going to be occupying in the next five years, or the next 10 years, maybe the next 15 or even 20 years," Cr Turner said.
"This is something to sure-up the future of our community so that we do have some land ... and we do grow to needing it, that we can grow and have this space put aside.
"In 50 or 60 years time people will say council was very strategic and far-sighted with the decisions they made around the airport.
"It's not about the community in the here and now, it's about our community in the future and this really helps set us up strategically for the future."
Opponent Phil Lloyd, who in May lodged a submission against the proposal, said there has been significant community objection to the business park project.
"Given the recent catastrophic bushfires, the better option should have been to defer this project until the koala population numbers had been properly quantified," he told council.
A development application to build airport infrastructure is expected to be lodged in mid-October.
The Port Macquarie Business Park development is one of 10 projects that was part of Tranche 5 in the NSW government's Planning System Acceleration Program which has been fast-tracking planning assessments to keep people in jobs and stimulate the economy during the COVID-19 crisis.
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