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 suburb of the Mid-Coast Council local government area in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to Port Stephens and extending well north of the Pacific Highway. The suburb is sparsely populated with most of the population living in the southern portion of the suburb.

It was under consideration as a possible site for the national capital before Canberra was chosen and has many dirt roads laid out in the bushland that date from the original subdivision in 1918.

Land from the 1918 subdivision is zoned "non-urban", meaning that construction of dwellings is not permitted. Sheds are allowed under a certain size without permission and other buildings are allowed with council permission. Because of this, land sales at North Arm Cove have been the subject of controversy for many years, even being raised as a matter in the NSW Parliament. Despite this, many blocks are purchased as investment properties and/or for use as weekend retreats. However, land is regularly sold and resold as owners become frustrated with being unable to develop their properties. Regardless the local council charges extraordinarily high rates providing little to no services in return. Great Lakes Council - now Mid Coast charge some of the highest rates in NSW providing the worst services in return.

Restrictions on land use in the area has meant that a limited number of residential blocks are available and the suburb's population is concentrated mainly in the village of North Arm Cove, which is located on the western shore of North Arm cove itself, and the northern shore of Port Stephens. Many of the small houses that used to be in the area have been torn down and replaced with more expensive, modern homes.

To the north of the Pacific Highway, land use is mainly rural and throughout the suburb kangaroos, wallabies and koalas are commonly found. The surrounds have been predominantly cleared as the land has no agricultural value. Large developers are constantly looking at the sites in the area for development but the council requires the area to stay undeveloped as the multi millions in rates they receive for the land keeps them solvent. This is changing with the Department of Planning amalgamating 3 councils effectively stripping the old Great Lakes Council of power and ordering a review of the land zoning legislation in early 2017.

...
Wikipedia