A community group that advocated for Lake Macquarie council to ditch its plans for a six-storey unit block on Toronto's foreshore has welcomed a scaled-back proposal but questioned the council's long-term intentions for the site.
The council unveiled a revised development plan for its vacant block of land on Bath Street earlier this month.
It has pitched a one-storey building anchored by a hospitality business with space for a small retail or tourism business.
Toronto Foreshore Protection Group, which opposed the previous plans for the site, says it is pleased with the "modest" development.
However, it is concerned the council is not following through on a resolution to reclassify the site from operational to community land.
"On the surface the community's two-year campaign to preserve the public foreshore for recreational use looks to have been successful," Jeff Jansson, the group's spokesperson, said.
"Our concern is that the 'operational' land of the proposed café and carpark could still be sold off to a developer and, under the current zoning, be built upon at higher density."
The council voted to defer plans for the six-storey development in August 2019.
As part of the motion, it also committed to investigate reclassifying "all or part of" the site to community land.
The revised proposal recently launched for community consultation made no mention of whether the land would be reclassified.
"Unfortunately, the community is still in the dark over council's implementation of the other aspects of last year's resolution," Mr Jansson said.
"It would be equitable for the Toronto region to regain some public land by reclassifying the Bath Street site to 'community land'. Community classification does not preclude a long-term lease of compliant businesses such as café, information centre or equipment hire."
A council spokeswoman said the development would not be compatible under a community classification.
"The proposed adaptable food and beverage building with attached retail is consistent with the current classification," she said.
"Investigations into the potential reclassification of the site indicate the current proposal would not be consistent with 'community' classification."
