Karuah Place Plan gets the green light from Port Stephens Council

The Karuah Place Plan is the first in a new series of plans for the Port's suburbs that are designed to improve liveability, increase well-being and deliver economic growth.

"Karuah is a growing village with a unique connection to the local environment," Port Stephens Mayor Ryan Palmer said.

"The river, wetlands and natural bushland provides valuable habitat for native wildlife and is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna.

"The Karuah Place Plan celebrates this connection while striking a balance between the need for new housing, business growth and job opportunities.

"The plan identifies two important biodiversity corridors, alongside potential employment zones and the opportunity to develop 800 new residential lots.

"It also contains short, medium and long-term actions to inspire community involvement in creating a better place through conservation, beautification and civic pride projects, activations and event opportunities."

Port Stephens Council has appointed Rebecca Morley as Place Planning project manager within its Vibrant Places team, who will work with the Karuah community to bring the short, medium and long-term actions to life.

Each of the actions aligns with the overall aim of the plan - to improve livability, create a more vibrant town centre and drive economic growth.

Among the short-term place plan ideas (one to two years) is for a Karuah business to operate a coffee or food van in the main street of town or Longworth Park, for volunteers to drive a beautification project (public art, gardens) or start a town pride group, and for the council to install more seating.

In the medium-term (two to three years), plans include the council creating a more pedestrian friendly main street, businesses leading a project to connect the main street to the river and the community working together to create more large scale events and gatherings.

Long-term plans (up to five years) include improving access to and upgrading the amenities in Longworth Park, to be lead by the council, and finding investors to create sustainable development in the town.

The council's strategy and environment section manager, Brock Lamont, said the community played a pivotal role in developing and refining the final plan.

"Place plans, importantly, start with the community and their values and aspirations for their place," Mr Lamont said.

"We started by asking more than 3700 Port Stephens residents what they valued most about their place in our first Liveability Index in September 2020.

"We then used this data, along with local community feedback from surveys, drop in sessions, key stakeholder meetings and an online mapping tool, to further shape the draft Karuah Place Plan, which went on public exhibition in November 2021.

"We've again listened to the community and have made changes to the final plan based on the feedback, including a commitment by Council to undertake a traffic and transport study of Tarean Road and commitment to more detailed consultation on future park and playground facilities.

"People want to see action, not plans that sit on the shelf. The Karuah Place Plan is a wonderful example of how we can plan for the future of our region, together."

A networking event to launch the Karuah Place Plan is being planned for April, to give the Karuah community, businesses and the council the opportunity to make "new connections and support each other to realise the vision of the plan".

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