Costco Wholesale Australia is not going ahead with its plan to open a 15,800 square-metre discount warehouse at Caringbah.
Three hundred and thirty people would have been employed at the Cawarra Road warehouse.
The Leader followed up the matter this week after a number of inquiries from readers about the status of last year's application.
Sutherland Shire mayor Kent Johns said it was disappointing.
‘‘The council received a letter from JBA Urban Planning Consultants on behalf of Costco on April 15, 2014,’’ he said.
‘‘The letter said Costco no longer wished to develop the site for the purpose of a retail warehouse.’’
The council had given the green light in 2013 to Costco to submit a development application.
However, the original Costco proposal had been ruled by council staff as not permissible under the B7 business park zoning in the draft Sutherland Shire local environmental plan 2013.
Costco was classified as a ‘‘shop’’ which is not allowed under the zoning.
Councillor Johns said that in his mayoral minute on the draft LEP 2013, he overruled the staff report and included ‘‘shop’’ as a permissible use for the site at 24-30 Cawarra Road, Caringbah.
Westfield, at that time, had hit out at a last-minute change to the LEP 2013 which would have allowed competitor Costco to open at Caringbah.
It is not certain now whether Costco will look for an alternative site in southern Sydney.
What do you think about the decision by Costco not to open a centre at Caringbah?
