The Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct (SAP) draft Master Plan has been released this week and is now on public exhibition for 45 days until August 12.
The SAP draft Master Plan is a 142 page document that details the vision the NSW Government has for the area over the next 40 years. Accompanying the SAP draft master plan are over 25 detailed reports, summaries and appendixes with supporting information.
The information here is a minor snapshot of “some” key items, with excerpts taken from various documents.
The main focus of the SAP is to create a sustainable year round economy in Jindabyne, Thredbo Resort, the Perisher Range and Charlotte Pass. Currently this area is the most seasonal tourist region in Australia geared mainly toward the winter snow season.
The Deputy Premier and Member for Monaro John Barilaro said the draft master plan marks an important milestone for the community and includes a revitalised Jindabyne town centre and lake foreshore and improved visitor amenities in the Kosciuszko National Park.
“This is a 40-year road map for the Snowy Mountains with a focus on year-round adventure and eco-tourism, improved community and education facilities, and increased transport solutions,” Mr Barilaro said.
The master plan identifies numerous topics including the sensitive nature of Kosciuszko National Park, housing supply and affordability in Jindabyne and realising the need for improved infrastructure. There are also diverse opportunities for both tourism and community growth within the precinct.
Jindabyne will see an upgraded lake foreshore, relocation of the Jindabyne Central School, a new Southern Connector bypass around Jindabyne and investment in infrastructure to meet tourism and residential growth estimations over 40 years.
It is expected the NSW Government will invest upwards of $200 million into the Snowy Mountains SAP via the $4.2 billion Snowy Hydro Legacy Fund.
The Department of Regional NSW is currently finalising a business case to determine investment opportunities and funding to support the Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct. The NSW government’s investment will target catalytic projects and key infrastructure to leverage and develop a year-round tourism economy, improve regional access and amenities, and grow Jindabyne into Australia’s alpine capital.
In the Kosciuszko National Park, resorts will see increased bed numbers and investment in attractions, some of which are already in progress.
Planning Changes
The Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct is proposing to establish a three-tiered planning framework to streamline planning pathways. This includes amendments to the following Environmental Planning Instrument (EPI’s):
• Activation Precincts SEPP – a new schedule containing zoning provisions and development controls that applies to the Jindabyne Catalyst Precinct.
• Snowy River Local Environmental Plan 2013 (Snowy River LEP)– zoning and planning controls will amend the LEP to apply to the Jindabyne Growth Precinct.
• State Environmental Planning Policy (Kosciuszko National Park – Alpine Resorts) 2007 (Alpine SEPP) – zoning and development controls will amend this SEPP to enable streamlined planning pathways to apply to the Alpine Precinct.
The overarching master plan sets out the vision, principles and precinct-wide performance criteria to support the planning controls in the three EPI’s.
Principles
The SAP master plan will be guided by nine principles.
- Environmental Resilience: climate change, renewable energy, and environmental management.
- Place and Landscape: vibrant centres, green streets, alpine region character, active connections.
- Connection to Country: Monero Ngarigo heritage, return to Country, engagement and education.
- Carry Capacity: on-mountain experience, visitor amenity, monitoring framework.
- Housing Diversity: housing affordability, visitor accommodation, housing diversity.
- Social Infrastructure: health and aged care, education and recreation, community wellbeing.
- Economy and Industry: year-round tourism, economic resilience, enhanced visitor experience.
- Transport and Connectivity: sustainable transport, active connections, mode integration.
- Infrastructure and Services: year-round tourism, economic resilience, enhanced visitor experience.
The Key Points
Jindabyne
- New housing and accommodation options including new land releases and aged care.
- Increased and reliable transport options between Kosciuszko National Park (KNP) and Jindabyne.
- Prioritising people over vehicles in Jindabyne providing access and ensuring walkability and pedestrian safety.
- Improved public domain and town centre and connection to Lake Jindabyne.
- Respect for Monero Ngarigo people’s rights, obligations, roles and connections to Country as Traditional Custodians of the land and waterways by embedding Aboriginal cultural knowledge in project delivery.
- Enhancing the visitor experience with high quality developments, world class environment and attractions plus infrastructure and services.
- New Heritage Centre (location to be advised)
- Jindabyne Central School relocated to Jindabyne Sport and Recreation site.
- Jindabyne Sport and Recreation to be an Education precinct including TAFE and Alpine Centre.
- Precinct wide environmental conscious.
- New Southern Connector road.
- New mountain bike and adventure park.
It is anticipated that as a result of the Special Activation Precinct the growth in resident population in the Jindabyne - Berridale area will increase from 7,800 in 2025 to 11,800 by 2060 and annual visitor numbers will increase from around 700,000 in 2019 to 1.35 million by 2060 resulting in $470 million more expenditure per year.
The structure plans have been divided into three precincts, Jindabyne Catalyst, Jindabyne Growth and Alpine Precinct. Jindabyne precincts also have five strategic sub-precincts identified as opportunities to promote and facilitate the SAP vision.
Jindabyne Catalyst Precinct
The Jindabyne Catalyst Precinct is made up of five sub-precincts and includes a range of development types and land uses, including both urban renewal and new land release opportunities, along with housing, tourism, sports and education uses. It guides what future development can utilise streamlined planning pathways via the Activation Precincts SEPP:
There are 5 sub-precincts are Jindabyne Town Centre and Foreshore, Mountain Bike and Adventure Park, Western (Foreshore) Lake Jindabyne, Sports and Education, Southern Connector Road. These areas are visible on map Figure 8 and each area further detailed in the draft plan.
Key changes include a new landscaped foreshore with new beach area in front of Rydges Snowy Mountains, a redeveloped Town Square near the Memorial Hall, and an eventual redesign of Kosciuszko Road to be single lane each way.
A new Heritage Centre will be created, although exact location at this stage is unknown and the CBD area has been dissected to show different potential of mixed use, commercial, housing and green space.
The Jindabyne Lakefront Development site, which includes the NRMA Jindabyne Holiday Park, is positioned in a key strategic location connecting the revitalised town centre and the foreshore linear park. As such, it presents a unique opportunity for redevelopment of a large area of lakefront land to create a vibrant foreshore destination and experience. (No exact timeframes have been allocated as yet)
Redevelopment of this site will complement the waterfront park and promenade proposed at the extension of Kalkite Street and provides an opportunity for a mixed-use signature development to meet the demands of a premier year-round tourism destination. The northern orientation will enable an ‘eat street’ focus including outdoor dining with views across the lake.
The Western Lake Jindabyne Structure Plan presents an opportunity for a new or relocated caravan park with destination appeal, high quality facilities, and direct access to Lake Jindabyne.
Future accommodation and tourist use will be planned for Western Lake Jindabyne, from the Snowline area north past Hatchery Bay. This could include a golf course, holiday park, ecotourism or hotel and conference centre.
The Jindabyne Mountain Bike and Adventure Park covers 500 hectares of undulating and rocky land at the western edge of Jindabyne accessed via Alpine Way and could be developed as a world class tourism hub. There is potential for a gondola to operate here.
Development of these sites will be facilitated by Regional Growth NSW Development Corporation through the master plan, delivery plan/s and amended Activation Precincts SEPP.
Jindabyne Growth Precinct
The Jindabyne Growth Precinct is made up of five sub-precincts including residential growth areas in Jindabyne West and East Jindabyne, industrial growth at Leesville and the Aerodrome and tourism growth south of Barry Way. It provides a guide for future development to support the Jindabyne Catalyst Precincts and will continue to be subject to the Snowy River LEP and an updated Snowy River Development Control Plan (DCP):
Areas identified for growth will also be rezoned, including Jindabyne town centre, Jindabyne West, East Jindabyne, Leesville and the aerodrome and Barry Way south near The Station.
Currently some of these areas have development and the Jindabyne West would be developed for accommodation as a new subdivision.
The Southern Connector road would be a key future component and is visible on draft master plan maps.
Kosciuszko National Park
The Alpine Precinct is made up of eleven sub-precincts, which comprises land within the Kosciuszko National Park that has been identified as having potential for development for tourism and related uses. This includes the resort areas of Thredbo, Perisher and Charlotte Pass.
The Alpine SEPP currently applies and will continue to apply to this land. Future development within the National Park focusses on existing disturbed locations, rejuvenating the existing resorts and improving eco-tourism and camping opportunities within existing campgrounds.
An amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Plan of Management is required as some of the proposals within the Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct draft Master Plan do not align.
Kosciuszko National Park visitation has more than doubled on a year round scale since 2006 and this growth in demand and change in visitor experiences since 2006 means the NPWS recogonise it needs to provide a greater range of accommodation offerings and increase capacities. This will allow for an increase in bed numbers at Thredbo, Perisher Range and Charlotte Pass.
Other key areas that could see development include, Sponars Chalet, Ski Rider Hotel, Thredbo Ranger Station, Island Bend, Creel Bay, Kosciuszko Mountain Retreat and Bullocks Flat Terminal as they are already disturbed areas. The Currango Homestead and Yarrangobilly Caves could also see bed increases, although they are outside of the SAP area.
An increase in bed numbers, camping, public amenity and improvements to parking are proposed to support the vision of the Special Activation Precinct.
A carrying capacity framework is being developed to support the draft master plan. The framework helps determine the level of development that can occur based on specific indicators, such as the capacity of services and the environment to accommodate the proposed number of people who can visit an area. As part of this framework, resorts and other environmental management systems will be improved to inform the development decisions.
Bed Increases
- Thredbo increase from 4820 to 6444 beds.
- Perisher Range increase from 4952 s to 6386 beds.
- Charlotte Pass increase from 611 to 845 beds.
- Selwyn Snow Resort only have staff beds.
All future developments must be environmentally sustainable and meet ISO14001 standards. The development approval processes will be streamlined which is a key trait of any Special Activation Precinct to encourage private investment by reducing red and green tape.
The SAP has identified road access to the resorts is over capacity at select peak times and there are issues with crowding, transport, parking and other amenities within the park and more reliable transport solutions are required.
This problem needs to be seriously addressed, as with forecast increased population and visitor growth to Jindabyne, the traffic will only increase, regardless of additional bed numbers in the alpine resorts.
From late July the Department of Regional NSW and Transport for NSW will lead an initiative to trial a shuttle service, to reduce pressure on the Alpine Way and Kosciuszko Road and provide further data to support the development of a park and ride service in line with the master plan. Improvements to parking have been considered across all resorts.
In Thredbo, development suggestions include upgrades of the Valley Terminal with additional ski facilities, offices and accommodation, expansion of the Thredbo Alpine Hotel and also tourist and seasonal worker accommodation near the snow making pond.
At Perisher Valley where accommodation development has remained stagnant for more than 25 years, the master plan identifies approved year-round village development and infill commercial accommodation opportunities. This follows on from approved master plans for redevelopment of ski slopes and village areas dating back to 2001 and 2002 respectively.
Significant expansion is proposed to deliver a ‘village feel’ with the activation of streets, improved plazas and public space, and formalised pedestrian linkages to support movement within the village streets and public space alignments.<
Many will consider this déjà vu as this idea has been in the pipeline since the 1990’s. The SAP has not addressed the governance of Perisher Valley, and until someone, or an agency is directing the future, this will be a further road block for any development.
An adjustment is also proposed to the aircraft landing policy to allow commuting helicopter flights to land at Charlotte Pass, Thredbo and Perisher Village subject to agreement with NPWS.
Visitor attractions will include a new viewing deck at Porcupine Rocks, a new trail from Guthega to Lake Jindabyne via the Snowy River, completion of the Snowies Iconic Walk linking Thredbo, Charlotte Pass, Guthega, Perisher and Lake Crackenback Resort.
It is proposed to investigate snow play locations which will be further identified in future alpine plans. In summer there will be upgrades to the Charlotte Pass turning circle and parking situation.
Timeline
The draft master plan, discussion paper and associated technical documents are on exhibition from 28 June to 12 August, 2021. After the exhibition period ends, submissions will be assessed, and feedback considered in finalising the master plan.
Once the NSW Government has finalised the master plan (2022), it will begin the delivery phase of the precinct, including the preparation of Development Control Plans, delivery plans and providing details on staging and infrastructure works.
Have Your Say
Residents and interested visitors ARE URGED to have their say after they have looked at the draft master plan and/or the supporting multiple documents.
There are several ways to offer feedback.
Formal Submission – Submit in writing your feedback via the Planning Portal.
Interactive Map – Click on set areas and respond to set questions with multiple choice answers.
Survey – spend a few minutes with tick box preference answers to specific questions. You can download a PDF with your answers.
Key documents to read are:
Snowy Mountains SAP draft Master Plan
www.planning.nsw.gov.au/snowymountainssap
SAP frequently asked questions
Snowy Mountains SAP draft Master Plan Appendix
All documents and information are available on the Planning Portal Website. (Click on View the Technical Studies for drop down box)
