A REZONING plan might help the proposed shopping centre at Estella move forward following years of delays.
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A draft planning proposal for a larger development site was approved at Monday night's Wagga City Council meeting. The decision aims to make the long-awaited shopping centre more feasible.
However, future development in Wagga's northern suburbs will remain at the mercy of the banks, according to site manager Raine and Horne.
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Director Craig Tait said the developer has been "actively" pursing finance for the project, but has struggled to gain approval.
"The bank inquiry and its changes has delayed development and pushed back the timeline," he said.
"He's sourcing finance from other banks, but it's all up in the air and will depend on how the banks react."
Wagga City Council's strategic planning coordinator Adriaan Stander said the rezoning plan to increase the site's size could make the proposed shopping centre more feasible, which is positive when sourcing finance from banks.
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Although the council is not in a position to help the developer find money for the development, Mr Stander said it can help the site become more attractive.
"It is private ownership so they will need to drive the development, but what we can do from the council side is facilitate by means of rezoning and promoting those areas - and certainly we will try and do that," he said.
Mr Stander said the northern suburbs are the fastest growing residential area in the city and the second fastest growing in the state.
It is predicted to significantly grow in the upcoming years with plans to increase Wagga's population to 100,000 by 2038.
With the future population size in mind, Mr Stander said the residents of Boorooma, Estella and Gobbagombalin require facilities such as a shopping centre to support the community's needs.
"It is very apparent that the community wants a shopping centre and this rezoning is another step to try and make it work," he said.
"[Rezoning for future commercial developments] is definitely something we are looking at. At the moment when a developer approaches us we will assess the application on merit, which will be very good at this point in time because there are two vacant shopping centre sites undeveloped.
"This one is probably at a point where the developer wants to move forward."
A FoodWorks supermarket and a Chemist Warehouse are still likely to be the tenants of the shopping centre, along with specialty retail shops including a pharmacy, cafe, hairdresser and local operators for takeaway and bottle shops.