Over the past 40 years the residents of Waverton, once one of Sydney's industrial areas, have fought to turn the headland occupied by BP into a park. They fended off proposals for a massive housing development and, in the 1990s, former premier Bob Carr agreed the area should become a headland park. But no sooner had the residents declared victory than they have found themselves fighting on another front: this time over whether the idyllic Berrys Bay, which embraces the park, should become a marina for superyachts.
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As Sydneysiders have becomericher, the clamour for boat parking space has become louder. All around the city, the old swing moorings have become inadequate and developers have bowled up plans to replace them with marinas. A mega marina in Rose Bay was rejected but an extended marina at Clontarf got the thumbs up this year.
A fortnight ago, preferred tenderer Pacifica Developments was given permission by the Roads and Maritime (RMS) to lodge a development application for a marina and boat storage facility in Berrys Bay thatwill cater for up to 140 boats.
The plan includes a superyacht facility on the eastern "dolphin" wharf for 13 vessels up to 40 metres long, a 70-berth marina for yachts up to 35 metres, and a boat-stacking facility capable of housing up to 60 boats. Linking the superyacht facility in one lobe of the bay with the main marina in the other will be a concrete boardwalk for vehicles and trolleys, to be built along the high-water mark of the park.
Chief executive Russell McCart said the proposed development would restore a working and recreational maritime character – while also opening up the foreshore to the community for the first time and protecting local heritage. A keen yachtsman, Mr McCart said his company had consulted with the community with the aim of "creating something wonderful for the use of all the people of the Waverton peninsula and Sydney, not just those with boats."
The residents have had some victories along the way. The developers have reduced the size of the land-based part of the development put forward in 2009 and a heritage report has saved the old Woodley's boat shed, which will be adapted and re-used as a boat-stacking facility.
But the latest proposal has facilities for superyachts that residents say that will block the views across the bay and the concrete walkway.
Bruce Donald, a member of the residents' committee and a lawyer, says the resulting plan was30 per cent larger on water to compensate for the reduction of the development on the shores of the bay.
"There's nothing wrong with a working waterfront development; it's just the scale," he said. "This is bigger than the superyacht facility at Rozelle and it's against a park."
What's really riled residents is, they say, that the development is inconsistent with the masterplan developed by North Sydney Council in 1999 and with the Sydney Harbour Regional Environmental Planning Policy.
Former mayor and local resident Genia McCaffery said the council had spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on a masterplan for the park and the working harbour.
"The tender remains confidential, but we were told that tenderers were required to comply with the masterplan," she said.
"It's all very frustrating. We are going to have vehicles on public parkland. We just don't see how the government could have given its consent to lodge this [development application]," she said.
The residents' faith in the process has also been rocked by the recent findings in the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The former Ports and Waterways minister, Joe Tripodi, and former chief executive of Maritime Steve Dunn were both found to have acted corruptly over the award of leases, without tender for cafes at Circular Quay, in which the former right-wing powerbroker Eddie Obeid had an interest.
The two were responsible for this tender in 2009. There is no evidence of anything untoward in this tender, but there has been controversy over their awarding of another tender for a cruise-boat facility at Blackwattle Bay to a $2 company owned by strip-club owner Joe Elias.
The RMS defended its decision to give consent as the landowner saying North Sydney Council would be required to place the proposal on public exhibition to allow formal submissions to be made by the community and stakeholders. A spokeswoman said RMS "considered factors including the navigational impacts of the proposal and its functional relationship to the nearby dry land in the decision."
Because the proposal is over $20 million the merits of the development application will be assessed by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure's Joint Regional Planning Panel, (JRPP).
