At Fridays Special Development meeting to consider the Local Environment Plan, Gashites refused to support an amendment that would see neighbours and community groups advised of zoning changes.
An example of this is the zoning change awarded to the Vincentia Golf Club- who have in their ownership a parcel of land that is zoned for environmental purposes. I have not been on the land but when you see an arial photograph you can see that is heavily vegetated with perhaps a creek running through it. I would be happy enough to consider it a conservation zone.
The Club put forward a submission requesting the zone be changed to RE2 private recreation to facilitate future expansion of the club.
This particular request has only been available for a sharp eyed council watcher to find in business papers since around the 15 July and frankly many wouldn't be looking or expecting such a change to happen as it was not advertised with the mapping and the golf course did not raise it in the first round of the environment plan submission.
I raised the issue and failed to gain any support- not even a seconder to at least NOTIFY the neighbours and the community group that covers the area. On the scale of community consultation NOTIFY is a valid form of communication not consultation.
The Gashites thought I was trying to derail a process and didn't seem to understand that it was merely a courtesy letter I was asking for. I tried again later in the meeting and still no luck.
For a council that stated very loudly in their election campaign that they wanted to have a strong consultative manner for working with the community they either don't understand what it means or have re written the definition.
So a rezoning decision has been made and yet very few people will know about it- I think that's a poor process- how about you?
Fridays meeting was an improvement from Wednesdays debacle. Gashites seemed to have read and understood the ramifications of awarding spot rezones. As previously discussed on this blog I have had many conversations with different Gashites who tell me how important they believe strategic planning is and how they recognise that the Shoalhaven's tourist industry is powered by our excellent environment. Yet there seems to be little understanding that making a rezoning happen in isolation to a plan and some proper investigations sets a bad precedent and crate unplanned disasters into the future.
lets see how today goes.
1 comment:
Transparency is very important - after all Council is paid by the community. I may or may not care if an area was rezoned, but I'd like the opportunity to know it is happening.
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