Johns River

The following report is an exceprt from the Greater Taree City Councilţs "DCP 2010" document, Part B l, Pages 19 – 22.   It lays out the character statement for Johns River as a locality and helps council to formulate policy and projects for our village into the future.

Johns River

About this part:  This part identifies the character statement for the Johns River locality.

Applies to:  The Character Statement applies to the land as mapped in Figure 3.5.4.1.

Date adopted by Council:  14 October 2009

Effective date:  25 June 2010

Related Policy / Technical Manual:  Council‟s Development Application Guidelines (Appendix A), and The Johns River Post Bypass Village Plan 2010

Introduction

This character statement applies to the village of Johns River. The area is broken into three key areas, being the Village Core, Village living and Rural Lifestyle, as shown on the following map.

Map of Johns River, showing the Village Core, Village Living and Rural Lifestyle zones

Role of the location:

Johns River is a small inland village located between the major regional centres of Taree (20 minutes south) and Port Macquarie (30 minutes north). The Village provides basic support services (e.g. general store, public school, community hall and playground, tavern) to the surrounding hinterland and village residents.

Current character:

Constraints:

Located between Taree and Port Macquarie, Johns River is a small inland village, comprising residential and semi rural lots and support services including a general store.

The existing Character of Johns River is influenced by a number of factors, including the historic settlement patterns in the area, the current zoning of the area, the topography and natural environment including the surrounding Johns River State Forest and Crowdy National Park and the key features of the Middle Brother State Forest and National Park. The current character of the village itself is also largely shaped by two dividing factors; The Main North Coast rail line, which creates an eastern end to the Village, and the Pacific Highway, which dissects the town along an east/west axis. The Pacific Highway upgrade will result in traffic by-passing the village from 2009/10.

Opportunities:

The overall direction for Johns River must ensure the long term viability of the village, maintaining the residential and commercial base, school and support services provided for village and hinterland residents.

The village is located at the northern gateway to the Greater Taree City Council local government area and with the removal of traffic from the main road through the village, opportunities exist to strengthen the bushland village character and promote Johns River as a tourism gateway to Greater Taree, National Parks and beaches, providing day trip opportunities for residents of Taree and Port Macquarie and overnight accommodation (e.g B&B) for travellers.

The village has well known community markets and antique markets with a long established history, key community facilities and services that may attract travellers off the highway. The village is also supported by a strong and active community.

Heritage considerations:

Johns River has a historic association with the local timber, logging and dairy industries, however, there are no heritage items in the Johns River Village.

Bulk / Scale / Form / Density Colours / Textures / Materials:

Current land uses reflect the growth and development of the village over time. Street layout is the common rectilinear form. Outside the commercial area, residential lots are large (more than 1000 m2), reflecting the traditional lot format and size of a semi-rural location.

Housing types are single storey, timber framed, frequently with weatherboard or fibro-cement sheeting cladding.

Edges / Boundaries:

The village is edged to the south and partly to the north by extensive areas of heavy vegetation and surrounding state forest.

To the east the village is edged by the railway and to the west will be edged by the new highway bypass.

Future expansion of the village may be constrained by these edge boundaries.

Focal Points / Nodes:

Currently the Community Hall and oval, the General Store and the Tavern are the key focal points of the village. These are all in the village core area and provide a sound basis for consolidating the core economic, recreational and cultural activity of the village.

View corridors:

The village of Johns River enjoys views to the Brother Mountains from most areas within the village. The natural backdrop of mountains and bushland is a defining feature of the village character.

Vegetation attributes:

Johns River contains and is surrounded by extensive areas of native vegetation and natural bushland.

Spaces – Public / Private

The key public spaces at present include the community hall and associated oval and playground areas as well as the local school. There are many opportunities to enhance and better connect these areas. Desired future character: Located between Taree and Port Macquarie, Johns River is a small inland village, comprising residential and semi rural lots and support services including a general store. A Key role of the village is to provide a service centre for the Rural/ Village community. The desired character for the village is a small scale bushland village surrounded by National Parks and Johns River State Forest. It is envisaged that the basic services provided for the local/ rural communities will be strengthened within a pedestrian friendly village environment. The village of Johns River demonstrates a commitment to ecological living principles.

Respect must be shown in all new residential developments, in regards to established setbacks, fencing and landscape patterns. New Community/commercial developments will be within and reinforce the village core. The village of Johns River provides a high level of amenities to attract visitors off the Highway and will develop as a highway service village and attractive rural destination.

Village Core

The Village Core of any rural centre is one which creates and attracts a strong sense of vitality and place amongst the residents.

This strong sense of village identity extends past the immediate village area and into the surrounding rural areas, both to the east and the west of the proposed village bypass.

Within Johns River the Village Core is largely defined by three key areas. The first of these is the community hall and playing field, located to the north of the village. The second is the central general store / petrol station as well as the residential dwellings fronting the Pacific Highway. The third key area is the stretch of Stewarts River Road, incorporating the existing bus stop and turning circle and the Tavern.

Large setbacks on the western side of the Pacific Highway provide off highway parking and access to the general store. With the future reduction in traffic resulting from the bypass operation, the opportunity exits for creation of a more defined Village Core. The area could be paved and landscaped to define the village commercial centre, encouraging pedestrian access and use. Paving could lead to the community hall and playground with safe crossing locations developed in the village core. The playing field area would benefit from the installation of playground equipment.

The tavern and bus turning area are located within the village core but on the opposite side of the Pacific Highway from the other elements in the village core. Pedestrian movement within the core would be enhanced by the provision of structures to improve pedestrian safety.

Enhancement of pedestrian facilities and provision of destinations (eg playground at the playing fields) would encourage pedestrian activity and contribute to revitalisation of the village core. Additional business uses (eg café, bakery) would benefit the village viability.

Village living

In Johns River the village living zone is the small area of inner residential surrounding and supporting the village core. The village is of a scale that the character of the streets may be considered separately.

The Village Living area is composed of a variety of residential house styles and themes. Each street in the Village Living zone appears to have a consistent character associated with it, although the details of the character can vary depending on what side of the street is being examined. In order to gain a full appreciation of the existing Village Living character, the main residential streets have been examined:

John Street

John St forms the natural southern limit of the Village Living zone. The land to the southern side of the street is largely comprised of an established area of vegetation which forms a natural buffer to between the rural living and village lifestyle zones. This is reinforced by the unformed road surface and the large setback between the small number of houses and the road itself. The large area of open space fronting John St (comprising the school playground) reinforces the nature of John Street as a transition from Village Living to Rural Lifestyle.

Station Street

Station St is a key residential street within the Johns River Village. Two distinct characters are present along this street. The north western corner with the Pacific Highway is occupied by a large vegetated reserve area. West of this, the northern side of the street has a consistent built form, with a wide road reserve and the deep front setbacks to single storey timbered framed dwellings. The setback has allowed for the establishment of clumps of native vegetation, contributing to the semi-rural feel of the street. This is reinforced by the rural style of fencing that some residents have erected in the area. Houses on the southern side of the street do not experience the wide road reservation but still enjoy a deep setback and established private gardens.

Thomas Street

Thomas Street fulfils a vital role linking the Village Living and Village Core areas with the forestry and logging areas to the east of the railway line. Thomas Street is sealed. Kerb and guttering is not present.

Houses on Thomas Street are single storey timber framed, weatherboard or fibro-cement clad. Setbacks are of 5 to 10 metres. Fences, where present, are of a rural style, namely post and rail or vertical pickets. Double garages are present, generally on the setback of the dwelling, and accessed via concrete or grass driveways

Village Living Conclusion

While the streets in the Village Living area have variations, particularly in setbacks, the built form, streetscapes and vegetation combine to create a semi-rural village character.

The salient visual feature of the village living area is the absence of brick as a building material and the predominance of timber-based fencing styles in preference to metal fencing products. The village is characterised by low scale and low density.

Rural Lifestyle

The village of Johns River is surrounded by a large area of rural and semi-rural properties. This Rural Lifestyle area is bordered by the proposed Pacific Highway bypass to the west, the railway line to the east, Wharf Road to the north and the former petrol station to the south. The character of this area is strongly defined by the tradition of maintained farmland flanked by large areas of bushland.

This character is maintained through the use of avenue plantings on Wharf Road using non-native species. This style of planting also creates a separation between the Village Living zone and the Rural Lifestyle zone on the southern edge of the village.

The rural character of the area is maintained by unsealed roads, traditional avenue tree plantings and rural fencing. Large lot sizes result in housing being setback form the road and not impacting on the rural streetscape or character of the area.