North Arm Cove, New South Wales Facts for Kids

Suburbs around North Arm Cove:
The Branch	The Branch	Nerong
Karuah, Carrington	North Arm Cove	Tea Gardens, Pindimar, North Arm Cove
Port Stephens	Port Stephens	Port Stephens

North Arm Cove is a small community located in the Mid-Coast Council area of New South Wales, Australia. It sits in the Hunter Region and at the southern edge of the Mid North Coast. The area is right next to Port Stephens and stretches north of the Pacific Highway. Most of the people living here are in the southern part of the suburb.

History of North Arm Cove

History of North Arm Cove

A City Dream: The 1918 Plan

Long ago, Port Stephens was considered a possible main seaport for New South Wales, and even a potential national capital! Because of this, a famous architect named Walter Burley Griffin designed a huge city plan for the peninsula in 1918.

Walter Burley Griffin's original plan for Port Stephens City, designed in 1918.

Unlike his other designs for cities like Canberra, this plan for Port Stephens City was shaped to fit the narrow bay peninsula. It included different areas for city life, like a port and railway on the western side. Near these, there were plans for a Custom House and an Administration Centre. Further north, Griffin planned areas for shops, factories, and a main retail street. There was also a large residential zone with space set aside for schools, churches, theaters, a library, and public parks. The local council approved these plans in May 1918.

Walter Burley Griffin's wife, Marion Mahony Griffin, wrote in her book "Magic of America" that her husband believed Port Stephens was one of only two "natural seaports" in Australia. She mentioned that he got a real estate client interested, and the land was surveyed and quickly sold.

During the surveying work, the Griffins met local Australian Aboriginal people. This experience helped them develop a deep appreciation for Australia's native plants. They believed that learning from ancient cultures could open up new ways of thinking. Later, in the early 1920s, another well-known planner, Henry Halloran, expanded these plans and divided the land even more. Many of the dirt roads you can still see from the air today are from these original plans.

Land Use Today: What's Allowed?

Much of the land from the 1918 plan is now called "non-urban." This means you generally cannot build houses on it, though other uses might be allowed with special permission. Because of these rules, buying and selling land in North Arm Cove has been a topic of discussion for many years, even in the NSW Parliament.

Despite the rules, many people buy these blocks as investments or for weekend getaways. Land is often bought and sold again as owners find they cannot develop their properties. In 2013, the NSW Parliament passed laws to help deal with these old "paper subdivisions" (where land was planned but not fully developed). These laws aim to help these areas become proper subdivisions.

Because of the restrictions, there are only a limited number of residential blocks available for building, mostly smaller, urban-sized lots. The Mid-Coast Council has said there are no plans to change the "non-urban" land to allow more building. Most of the local population lives in the village of North Arm Cove, which is on the western shore of the cove and the northern shore of Port Stephens. Many older, smaller houses have been replaced with newer, more expensive homes.

North of the Pacific Highway, the land is mostly used for farming. You can often spot kangaroos and wallabies roaming freely in this area.

Bringing Griffin's Vision to Life

The North Arm Cove Initiative

"Back to the future - North Arm Cove Initiative" received a High Commendation at the SEEDS Conference in 2022.

In 2019, a group of landowners, with help from architects and planners at DESIM-Arch, started the "North Arm Cove Initiative." Their goal is to encourage new development in North Arm Cove that respects the original plans by Walter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin. They want to create a community that is regenerative, resilient, and sustainable.

One of their first projects was an Australia-wide competition for students called "Back to the future - North Arm Cove." This competition asked young architects and planners for their ideas on how regional urban living could look in the future. Experts in history, city planning, and sustainability gave lectures to the students. The winning idea came from the "Back on Track" team.

In 2022, a research paper about the "North Arm Cove Initiative" was presented at an international conference in the UK. The paper received a High Commendation for Project Management. It described a plan for designing sustainable communities based on Circular Economy principles. This means using resources wisely and minimizing waste. The paper also looked at the challenges and opportunities for North Arm Cove's development and suggested a way for people to work together through a "Sustainability Research Centre."

What Authorities Are Doing

In December 2022, the "Hunter Regional Plan 2041" was updated to include a focus on "historical paper subdivisions." This plan noted that the Mid-Coast Council had looked into the challenges of developing areas like North Arm Cove. It found that providing services for urban development in many of these places would be very expensive, and there are also significant environmental concerns. The plan suggested that more investigation would be needed to find ways to develop these areas affordably.

In March 2024, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure made a decision about the proposed MidCoast Draft Local Environment Plan (LEP). They asked the Council to make changes to the plan before it is shown to the public. One of these changes was to consider applying a "C4 Environmental Living zone" with a minimum lot size of 5 hectares for paper subdivision sites. For the minimum lot size to be reduced to the actual smaller lots in the subdivision, a detailed development proposal needs to be prepared that addresses how services will be provided in the area.

The MidCoast LEP is expected to be put into action in early 2025.

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North Arm Cove, New South Wales Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.

North Arm Cove, New South Wales facts for kids

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