MORE than half of the public submissions Lake Macquarie council took into account on a $580 million luxury waterfront hotel project at Trinity Point were collected by the developer.
At the last meeting, the council approved a proposal to change its document that guides development and land use in the city to help facilitate the landmark project.
Cr Brian Adamthwaite raised questions about the consultation process, noting 230 of the 354 submissions had been provided by the developer, compared to 124 sent directly to the council.
"I'm not speaking against this, but I do have some questions to ask about the submission process, because I think it's important the community is aware of how we work with submissions and get input from the community in making our decisions," he said.
"Is it standard practice that we have proponents of developments involved in collecting and providing submissions for developments they are involved in?"
The council's integrated planning manager Wes Hain said while it was "slightly unusual" - it's not unique to have a developer undertake their own consultation.
He said a review of the submissions handed over by developer Johnson Property Group showed 88, or 38 per cent, of the comments came from people who live on the Morisset peninsula or within a 5km radius of the site.
Another 54 were from people who lived elsewhere in Lake Macquarie and 85 were from people who lived outside the area.
Three people didn't provide a suburb as part of their submissions but did give an email address.
Cr Adamthwaite suggested the council should have a discussion about submission practices as part of its governance portfolio.
"That information I think is really useful and important for us to be able to assess the way in which submissions are received and how we understand and deal with them," he said.
"I think that this sort of information as part of a report informs councillors, but it also I think reassures the community in terms of the information we do collect."
The council's planning proposal involves a number of changes to its Local Environmental Plan (LEP), effectively allowing greater flexibility on the site for a significant mixed-use tourism and residential development on the proviso it satisfies certain criteria and exhibits design excellence.
Out of 349 public submissions, not including five made by government agencies, 266 backed the proposal while 74 either objected to it as a whole or parts of it - raising issues with traffic and roads, building heights, the helipad, infrastructure and visual impact.
Another nine were neutral.
The council's decision to approve changes to its LEP comes after the NSW Department of Planning approved developer Keith Johnson's state significant development at the end of September.
It did make some changes to the planning proposal in response to stakeholder feedback, changing the way it measures building heights which reduces the overall potential building height by up to 8m at the southern end of the site.
The council also included referral to a design review panel to consider setbacks, building separation, views, overshadowing, privacy, noise and transition of building heights.
Mayor Kay Fraser previously called it a 'major drawcard' for the city, and on Monday night she reiterated her support.
"It's a really important investment and quite significant for the Morisset area, we know that part of the world in Lake Macquarie has been on the map for some time," she said.
"There's a lot of activity out there and a lot of investment in Morisset, it's one of our strategic areas in our city and I very much welcome this type of investment."
Designed by Australian firm Koichi Takada Architects, the project is complete with two 300-seat restaurants and function centre, a gym, day spa, wellness centre and business facilities - along with 180 residential units and 224 tourism apartments.
