A proposal for Ride Water Park Port Stephens was adopted by councillors at the June 14 meeting and will now be forwarded to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment for gateway determination.

Councillors voted unanimously to have the planning proposal go through the gateway determination process, which includes public consultation. 

Port Stephens Mayor Bruce MacKenzie strongly endorsed the proposal and congratulated the council staff who prepared a comprehensive report.

“This is a really good report that's been prepared to a high standard,” he said. “This could be a great addition to our tourism industry in Port Stephens.”

A development application for a $1 million cable wakeboard park in Marsh Road, Bobs Farm was lodged by Griffiths Investment Properties in December 2013. The planning proposal, containing traffic impact and soil assessments, bushfire and flood studies, was submitted to the council in January 2016.

In a report to councillors, the council’s strategy and environment section manager, David Rowland, said “strong strategic justification” was provided in the planning proposal as to why the park should be built at Bobs Farm, including that it would be close to the go-kart track and golf course. He stated that while a water ski park was consistent with surrounding land uses, it was not compatible with the flood prone nature of the land.

“The northern part of the site is identified as Swamp Mahoney (Paperbark Forest) and any proposal to alter this habitat would need to be considered as part of a future development application,” Mr Rowland stated in his report.

On its Facebook page, Ride Water Park Port Stephens stated: “We have been working tirelessly on making this park a reality”.

“There are members of our community opposed to our development and we have worked on providing over eight months of additional professional studies to inform these people and groups that their concerns have been extensively investigated and are of minimal concern and defiantly of no negative impact.”