Toronto foreshore development a boost for economic tourism: Mayor

BY JARROD MELMETH

A prime piece of waterfront land at Toronto could soon be the home of a commercial, tourism and residential hub after Lake Macquarie Council voted to prepare a development application at Monday nights meeting.

No confirmed details are available yet, but the development is believed to be as high as four to six storeys which, exceeds the two storey limit under the current local environment plan.

The land has been earmarked for decades with council purchasing property along Bath Street since the 1990's, for what Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser says is for economic tourism.

"Last night it was council taking the next step and deciding to do a feasibility report. We have just recently spent $4 million on the streetscape in Toronto. A number of our town centres have not reached their potential and Toronto is one of them that needs an economic boost.

"We can see that people want to visit Toronto but we do not have enough accommodation for those people and this is a perfect opportunity to progress through the plans to provide that very necessary target for visitor tourism," Ms Fraser said.

The Coal Point Progress Association said in a statement "the issues around lack of community space, growing population, lack of public awareness and protection of the foreshore received little comment from the councillors, who appeared focused on the tourist population and not residents."

The vacant land between Bath Street and Victory Parade which could soon
be the home of the proposed development. Photo: Google Maps.

The Missing Link For Munibung Road

BY JESSICA ROUSE

The missing link on Munibung Road is right around the corner with construction on the 820 metre stretch of the road set to start in the new year.

Lake Macquarie Council has called for tender submissions to find a contractor for the job which will greatly improve the link between Boolaroo and Cardiff.

Mayor Kay Fraser says it's time the area went back to the boom it once was.

Mayor Kay Fraser, Adam Wakeman and Tony Farrell from the council.

"Obviously it was a huge employment generating area so we're wanting to put back what was there so hence the reason to built the road so we can have the employment generating businesses back in there,"

"We've set the money aside and we actually got some money from the government and that's to open up the old Pasminco land so that will release all of that land and great opportunities for residential and also for economic development," said Mayor Fraser.

The extension runs through the former Pasminco smelter site, and the council hopes the former site will again become a booming economic area like it once was.

The link is also crucial to the development of the Lake Macquarie Transport interchange linking the suburbs.

"Residents travelling in that area, that will cut down on their travel time and it's also another new access for business using that route so tenders will close and we'll probably assess them early in the year and then start building that road," said Mayor Fraser.

Tender applications are open until January 23 next year.

Dive into Swansea Swimming Pool

BY JESSICA ROUSE

More people will be diving into Swansea Swim Centre after an off-season maintenance upgrade.

The improvements were undertaken during the centre's closure over the cooler months and were worth around $700,000.

Mayor Kay Fraser believes its been money well spent.

Starting blocks. Image supplied.

"The pools are one of our most used facilities out at Lake Macquarie. We have a 50-metre heated pool out at Swansea so we had to do a new line and new membrane in the pool. We've also had to remove all the old pebbles around the edge of the pool and we've lowered that and put some sandstone in that."

The adjustable starting blocks are similar to those at Sydney Olympic Park so swimmers have the best possible facilities and the safest.

The improvements have been given the tick of approval from council's professional lifeguards who tested it out on Tuesday for their annual pre-season challenge.

Council has been systematically improving all of their pools across the area with a $2.4 million upgrade to West Wallsend in 2015, improvement to Speers Point, and there's a planned $4 million upgrade for Toronto Swim Centre as well.

The Swansea Pool upgrades are finished just in time for Learn to Swim Week which kicks off this Saturday.

"It's a very popular pool, the one out at Swansea and we've spent just under $1 million there but it's really well worth it, the community loves it at Swansea and it's very well used," said Mayor Fraser.

Mayor Kay Fraser and lifeguards Image supplied.