Under the Local Government Act 1993, all land in Council’s ownership must be classified as either operational or community.

Most land, such as parks, reserves and other open space is classified as community, which means that it is set aside for community uses for the public.

Some land, such as Council depots and land that is being used as an investment, is classified as operational which means it can be used for a broader number of purposes.

There is currently a tenant in the house at 85 Hillside Road who has been living there for some years and whose tenancy predates public ownership of the site.

For a variety of reasons, including site security, Council would like to keep this tenancy. In order to maintain the tenancy, 85 Hillside Road will be classified Operational.

The land includes significant Littoral Rainforest which is listed as an Endangered Ecologically Community (EEC) under NSW Legislation and Critically Endangered under Commonwealth Legislation.

It is adjacent to other public bushland areas, making it a corridor extension to other important habitat and biodiversity rich areas.

There will be a Plan of Management (PoM) prepared for the site following the transfer of the land from the State Government to Northern Beaches Council.

This PoM will include the Land Transfer Agreement signed by the State Government and Northern Beaches Council, which mandates that the majority of the land will be used for public recreation and cannot be sold to a third party.

Following public notification, the proposal to classify the land will be tabled at the next available Council meeting with a summary of all submissions and a recommendation to classify 85 Hillside Road as Operational and 62 Hillside Road as Community