Lake Macquarie council has endorsed a planning proposal to rezone 20 hectares of land within the former Pasminco smelter site at Boolaroo to allow for large format retail development.
The remediated land has been linked to retailers IKEA and Costco in recent years after Pasminco's former administrator Ferrier Hodgson detailed what it would earn from the sale of land to the two retail giants in 2018.
But both companies have been coy on publicly expressing interest in the area.
The broader 92-hectare site was acquired by the NSW government last year after it was effectively frozen from further development under the administrator.
A fortnight after the acquisition was announced last August, the council unveiled the planning proposal to rezone 20 hectares, most of which will be to business park zoning. A small strip of the subject land which adjoins a future residential site will be rezoned to mixed use as a transition area.
The council put the proposal on exhibition in December for 56 days and received only one submission.
As part of the planning proposal the council had to consult with Transport for NSW (TfNSW) regarding the likely future traffic impacts.
The state agency advised that a Traffic Impact Assessment should be supplied with the proposal, but the council argued it should be completed as part of any future subdivision and development applications, rather than at the rezoning stage.
The council acknowledges in the planning proposal report that the rezoning and subsequent development "will lead to increased peak traffic volumes" which "will likely require upgrades to some nearby intersections", but says the study should be completed "when more detail is known regarding traffic volumes and movements".
Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation, which took ownership of the site on behalf the state government and will ultimately process land sales, will "soon provide traffic modelling to TfNSW", the report says.
A motion to endorse the planning proposal was unanimously passed during Monday night's virtual standing committee meetings.
Cr Brian Adamthwaite, who moved the motion, said the rezoning would "bring together all the different parts of the jigsaw puzzle" at the remediated site.
Cr Kevin Baker said "long-term jobs" would be created. "We're going to see big-box retailers come in. It's going to be an employment-generating area," he said.
Mayor Kay Fraser said the land had been "earmarked for quite some time" and it would be a "game-changer for Lake Macquarie".
The final step of the process involves the NSW Planning Minister amending the Local Environmental Plan to formalise the rezoning.
