A screenshot of Eurobodalla Shire Council’s fly-through about its proposal to transform Batemans Bay. Photo: Screenshot.
There’s been progress on a coastal town’s major planning document, with the release of a potential timeline for its adoption.
Earlier this year, Eurobodalla Shire Council released the Batemans Bay Masterplan for public feedback, which closed in late June.
It puts forward a proposal to divide Batemans Bay into four distinct quarters (tourism, commercial, industrial and residential) as part of the council’s planning for a predicted population of up to 40,000 by 2100.
Three months after the public consultation period ended, Mayor Mathew Hatcher said he remained confident that the council had struck the right balance between change and the status quo.
“I think the time is right,” he said. ”We’ve hit this spot where everybody wants to see a better town.
“How we get there — that can be argued … a lot of this is about long-term thinking and working proactively with developers.”
The masterplan puts forward diversifying housing supply (including with affordable housing), building a night-time economy, creating new public spaces and transitioning the town centre to mixed-use higher-density developments, as well as a variety of other changes.
There is also a proposal to see parts of the town (literally) built up, with some areas given the green light to build up to 100 metres high.
A consultation report is being finalised before a council vote in October, featuring information on how the 10-week public exhibition process went and proposed amendments to the masterplan.
Mayor Hatcher said that across the consultation period, there were “70 per cent positive [to] 30 per cent negative” responses by people who visited a shopfront the council set up, while the ratio of online comments was “almost the exact opposite”.
“I think a lot of this, [is because] there’s a lot of content to go through,” he said.
“It’s one thing to look at a picture online or read someone else’s comment … [and another] to take that time to walk in and speak to staff and actually see a lot more of what we’re planning.”
Mayor Hatcher said Batemans Bay residents tended to “really want change”, while feedback from those living in other areas of the shire, or tourists to the area, was less supportive of the proposals.
“We don’t want to change the place so that, instantly, we lose the tourists who visit here each year … You’re always going to have to make concessions,” he said.
“We know that we have a lot of people wanting to move here, but there is a housing shortage and businesses are suffering.”
Mayor Hatcher hoped the masterplan would be supported by his fellow councillors, pointing to briefings with council staff ahead of the October meeting.
“Ultimately, it is always up to the councillors how they decide to vote. If the council decides to go ahead, we will follow that process,” he said.
“If it’s not adopted, we could see all sorts of things — from more consultation to deferring to have more time to look over the documents.”
If the report is supported, the updated Batemans Bay Masterplan would be put before councillors for approval later this year.
As previously reported by Region, masterplan documents for other parts of Eurobodalla Shire are in the works for the council’s current term.
Moruya is expected to be next in line.
“They don’t stand alone from each other … The ideas are forming now — we have to start working ahead,” Mayor Hatcher said.
“I would say, in the next financial year, we’d very proactively start on Moruya [with] that consultation process, getting that underway.” (This assumes the Batemans Bay plan is given the green light on its expected timeline.)
Mayor Hatcher said it was too early to put forward proposals for Moruya’s masterplan, but indicated it would involve a different approach from what was used for Batemans Bay.
“We haven’t started that process, but Moruya is a very different town,” he said.
“There’s no way you’re going to see 20-storey buildings in Moruya. It’s a village almost, and we’ve got to keep that character and respect that history in the character of the town.”
The Batemans Bay Masterplan can be downloaded from the project’s page on the council’s website.
The consultation report is expected to be discussed at the council’s meeting on 28 October.
