Council looking to rezone Estella land east of Pine Gully Road

A draft plan to rezone land to the east of Pine Gully Road will go before councillors at Monday night's meeting.

In a push for more residential development at Estella, council initiated discussions with the landholder.

"Estella and the broader northern suburbs are currently experiencing change as a result of significant growth, being one of the fastest-growing suburbs in the city," the plan to go before councillors states.

"Development of this area provides the opportunity to accommodate this growth and improve local service and commercial provision for the community."

The recommendation is to proceed with the planning proposal and request a Gateway Determination from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.

Throughout 2020 council has negotiated with Alatalo Bros to plan the development of a new section of Estella, which includes the need to reconfigure part of the existing zoning.

The complete development site is located in the western, undeveloped part of Estella. Old Narrandera Road bounds it to the south, Pine Gully Road to the west, and Estella Road to the north.

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Gobbagombalin resident Shantal Armstrong said she wholeheartedly welcomes any development in the northern suburbs.

"It has become such a family-friendly suburb, so everyone wants it to grow and be developed," she said.

"With all the developments like the park, bike track, the fitness stations and things like that it can only be good for the suburbs.

"There is a lot of demand for houses out here."

Wagga mayor Greg Conkey said the proposal seeks to rearrange some of the zoning to make it simpler for the landowner to develop the space.

"Estella is the second fastest-growing regional suburb in NSW, only second to Tweed Heads," he said.

"We have got some issues out there, and we need to make sure it's planned properly.

"This is designed to provide additional opportunities for that area and strengthen what we've got."

Cr Conkey said council has been working closely with the landowners to come up with the rezone proposal, to make it a more "liveable" suburb.

The proposal says that in some locations throughout Estella and Gobbagombalin, the layout results in a poor urban design outcome.

It added this includes communities separated by busy roads, resulting in the severance of pedestrian routes, inactive street frontages and poorly planned open space networks.

"This planning proposal responds to these issues identified within previous development, seeking to deliver an improved neighbourhood design outcome in the remaining development area of Estella," the report states.

"The layout for the neighbourhood design has been the subject of collaboration and continued refinement between council and the developer."

Ms Armstrong said people would say to her 'I would never move out there', but as the suburbs expand and the new school starts to take enrolments their tune has changed.

"I have noticed that people from outer suburbs are coming to Gobba and Estella," she said. "People want to live here now."

With the talk of more housing, Ms Armstrong said, the inevitable discussion of a shopping centre arises as well.

"We desperately need it out here," she said. "It does not make sense to not have one for somewhere that has three suburbs."

Ms Armstrong said it is frustrating that it seems to be talked about a lot, with little action taken.

"How many times do we have to go over it," she said. "People are sick of talking about it.

"Now that we do have a school and we have had the uni out here forever, and a day, a supermarket is critical to keeping the residents out here long-term."