ORANGE City Council is seeking advice on whether to allow an expansion of Woolworths at the north Orange shopping centre because it does not want “an Orana Mall situation” where business is taken away from the central business district.
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A planning proposal has been lodged with Orange City Council to change the zoning for the land immediately north of the north Orange supermarket site, which is home to Woolworths and other food outlets and businesses.
The change would bring the site in line with the existing centre’s zoning, allowing it to be expanded.
Technical services director Dave Waddell said expansions at Orana Mall in Dubbo had turned the Dubbo CBD into a “ghost town”.
“We’ll be conducting an analysis of the impacts on other concerned entities to ensure there are not significant, adverse impacts,” he said.
There is also an opportunity for a “small retail” venture approved for south of Bloomfield Hospital.
“Council’s role is in strategic planning to avoid an Orana Mall situation,” Mr Waddell said.
Orange council’s Sustainable Development Committee chair Jeff Whitton said councils generally had a policy of protecting the CBD.
“It’s always been our practice at council to balance and keep the majority of larger shopping precincts in the CBD,” he said.
“Council’s role is in strategic planning to avoid an Orana Mall situation,”
- Technical services director David Waddell.
However Cr Whitton said it was obvious there was a need for a larger supermarket in the area or Woolworths would never have approached council to have the land rezoned.
“They do their research.
“It comes back to what the public wants.”
North Orange was the fastest growing area in inland NSW in 2012 according to the Bureau of Statistics.
Council spokesperson Nick Redmond said council was interested in assessing what infrastructure, such as roads, would need to be put in place to accommodate the expansion.
He suggested council would investigate the opportunity to have developers contribute financially to infrastructure construction.
Cr Whitton said he supported that move.
According to the planning proposal the expansion would generate traffic volumes of about 800 cars per hour when the area is fully developed. However it further discusses that the proposal will only generate about 450 vehicles in the short to medium term.
In the long-term road works would be required.
