Photo: The limbo lot behind the former chambers.
A small parcel of land behind the former council chambers at Gosford is in limbo after being left out of bulk classification in 1993.
Council describes it as an administrative error by the former Gosford Council.
The block was meant to be added to the former council chambers lot 30 years ago.
If that had happened it would now be up for sale along with the former council chambers.
But it remains its own designated block of land, and is 38 square metres in size.
According to Dr Google that’s about the size of a large combined living room and kitchen.
The land includes the two driveways from Henry Parry Drive that service the former council chambers and two trees that are possibly on Council’s significant tree register.
And because it was never classified, by default the limbo lot is classified as community land and can not be sold.
Which makes it awkward if any new owner of the former council chambers wants access to Henry Parry Drive.
Council says the parcel of land was created circa 1975 from road reserve.
It faces Henry Parry Drive, at the back of the former Council chambers at 49-51 Mann Street.
The former council chambers and other parcels of land in Mann St are up for sale to the State Government for a TAFE precinct.
If the new State Government doesn’t want the land, Council has resolved to sell all the blocks on the open market.
Two other blocks of land in Mann St, which are also classified as community land, have been the subject of reclassification to operational land so Council can put them on the market with the others.
This third block of land came to light at a public hearing held on March 30.
The hearing was part of the process to reclassify the two blocks at 73-75 Mann St.
It was held in a marquee behind Central Coast Stadium and about 23 members of the public attended, complaining about the location, saying it was hard to find.
Speakers were disrupted by noise of the traffic from both cars and trains and from the heat and the glare in the tent.
At that meeting, resident Joy Cooper, raised the issue of the third block.
Ms Cooper had also raised it with Council a few weeks earlier, noting it was missing from Council’s list of community land that is going through another process of confirming their allowed usage.
Council has admitted it will need to go through the same process for the third block as it currently is doing for these two blocks.
Once the procedural matters are done, Council’s request to change the classification to operational goes to the relevant State Minister.
“If the Minister does not support reclassification, the land will remain community land under Council ownership,” the meeting was told.
“Whilst Council is currently negotiating with the State Government for the sale of the land to facilitate the establishment of a new TAFE campus, the sale can only occur if the State Government approves the re-classification,” the minutes state.
People at the meeting objected to the sale of 73-75 Mann St, saying Council bought the land in 2019 to become a performing arts precinct.
The minutes of the meeting are now public. Those 23 people who attended may like to read them to see if their presentations have been adequately encapsulated in the minutes. Go here: https://cdn.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/…/CCC_Mann_Street…
