Opponents of the long-running bid to build a new skydiving headquarters in Stuart Park are once again ramping up their campaign against the controversial building.
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Wollongong resident group Neighbourhood Forum 5 has urged members and other residents to submit “strong objections” to the proposal, which was recently placed on back public exhibition due to a successful court challenge from the community group Protect Our Parks Incorporated’s (POPI) .
Wollongong City Council is re-exhibiting a proposal it had already approved for Skydive Australia (formerly known as Skydive the Beach) to build an administration building and kiosk at the beach-side park in an effort to overcome “defective” development consent.
In October, the Land and Environment Court found public notices about the plans had omitted a “significant and material element” of the plan: the demolition of the existing amenities block and the council’s administration facility.
The neighbourhood forum, which says it has a “current active membership” of 352 households and includes some people involved with POPI’s legal campaign, voted early this month to submit feedback saying the building was “completely contrary to the public interest”.
In the forum’s three page submission to the council, members say the plans – which are unchanged from those submitted in 2014 and subsequently approved – “alienates, for private profit, public land created as a public park 130 years ago”.
The group contends that the multi-million dollar company’s building – and related use of the park as a drop zone for their tandem skydivers – stops community groups from using Stuart Park oval and “discourages tourists from visiting… due to access and parking problems”.
The plans will be open for public comment through the council’s website until November 23. The council will reassess the proposal and the matter will be referred to the Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel for review.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
