Cleanup of former Empire Bay Marina site

The Department of Planning and Environment – Crown Lands is progressing plans to remove the dilapidated boatshed and other infrastructure at the former Empire Bay Marina to allow for a full clean-up of the contaminated site.

It was announced last November that the structures will need to be removed to allow the significantly contaminated site to be cleaned up, and engineering advice also warned the boatshed building was unstable and at risk of collapse during remediation work.

Proposed Stage 1 work will involve removal of the former boatshed, jetties and underground fuel tanks and then remediation of the underground tank area. This will allow for additional contamination testing to be done safely to guide a full site cleanup in Stage 2.

Crown Lands Executive Director of Land and Asset Management Greg Sullivan said documentation was being finalised to support planning approvals for the work with discussions continuing with Central Coast Council.

“Crown Lands is preparing supporting documentation to remove the infrastructure including a statement of heritage impact as the boatshed is listed as an item of local heritage significance in the Central Coast Local Environmental Plan 2022,” Mr Sullivan said.

“Crown Lands has engaged a heritage consultant to document the boatshed and investigate any items that could potentially be saved and made available for interpretive reuse. Once completed, this information will be made available on the department’s website.”

Once the structures are removed additional testing will be completed to inform a Remedial Action Plan to remediate the site to a public open space standard consistent with the adjoining foreshore.

For more information visit Former Empire Bay Marina webpage.

Background

In late 2020, Crown Lands revoked the Empire Bay Marina operator’s licence due to ongoing significant breaches of licence conditions and failure to rectify issues despite repeated requests.

Building condition and structural engineer’s reports from 2020 and 2022 found the boatshed had major structural defects and was structurally unsafe. Other constraints included the site’s location in a now established residential area with no legal vehicle access, parking or sewerage.

A detailed site investigation found elevated concentrations of contaminants onsite including anti-fouling agents (tributyltin), heavy metals (lead, zinc and copper) and hydrocarbons (fuel and oil).

In May 2022, the NSW EPA declared the site significantly contaminated under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 requiring its remediation.