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HEAVEN SILED ON GIVE TO XMAS XMAS FESTIVAL HAMPER APPEAL DISTRICT NEWS 3 COMMUNITY NOTES 4 Bungendore’s Community Newspaper
Wednesday 10 December 2014 Year 2014/ Week 50 www.bungendoremirror.com.au
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Small & game
Ducks and debris glide over the Majara Street floodway after 73 ml of rain was dumped on Bungendore last Saturday. Earlier in the week storms brought trees down. REPORT PAGE 2
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Community sidelined from major land rezoning John Mitchell Bungendore residents and half of the voting councillors are angered by Palerang Council’s decision to support a planning proposal to rezone land to allow the expansion of the Elmslea Estate, without first consulting with the community. A staff report to the Council’s December ordinary meeting noted that the proposal, made on behalf of Elmslea Land Developments, was to rezone the land from RU1 Primary Production land to R2 Low Density Residential and R5 Large Lot Residential and RE1 Public Recreation, to allow the creation of 309 residential lots. The report said the proposal broadly satisfied the requirements of the Bungendore Land
Use Strategy and Structure Plan and explained that the Council had three options in dealing with it 1) forward the proposal prepared by the developer to the Planning Minister for a gateway determination 2) prepare and submit its own planning proposal, which would reflect the Council’s preferred approach or 3) determine it does not support the proposal, in which case it would not be submitted to the Minister. The staff recommended option 1). Before the councillors started their deliberations they heard statements from members of the gallery. Geoff Langford said the councillors should reject the recommendation and instead get a gateway decision from the
community. He regretted that the business papers had been released so late and asked the Council to be transparent and accountable in its dealings. John Preston asked why, after the time and effort put into making it, the Palerang LEP can’t be used to make decisions and went on to challenge statements made within the proposal. Greg Roberts said the staff report is comprehensive and shows the proposal does not satisfy the current LEP and brushes water and sewer concerns aside. He said the councillors would do better to stand up and say no. Vivienne Laycock felt the original proposal for Elmslea development was huge and this is huger. It will affect everyone here and
everyone over in Elmslea, and we all need time to digest it. Des Page, the rezoning applicant, had a different perspective. Work on the proposal had started in 2004, so it is not new to the table and the process will require further studies and community involvement.
“..asked why, after the time and effort put into making it, the Palerang LEP can’t be used to make decisions..”
David McDonald appreciated the efficiencies in the gateway process but was concerned that it was going forward without consultation with the community. He said the development could increase the town’s population by a third, yet water and sewer have not been adequately considered, and the environmental offsets proposed have been shown not to work. Kirsten Skinner said she spends her day at the Museum of Democracy telling kids why democracy is important to us, and how we use it, and this is a very bad example. Judith Turley felt the proposal should also be tested against the Council’s Community Plan. Two of its four guiding principles are •careful use
and management of resource opportunities for future generations and •ensure opportunities outweigh the cost to provide long term opportunities for the many rather than short term opportunities for the few. Cr Marshall opened the debate, moving that consideration of the matter be deferred until the Council’s February 2015 meeting. This has only been on exhibition since Friday, if you could get into a Council office to pick it up. For everyone else it’s only been on the website since Tuesday. Most applications are around for a couple of months..” Cr France (seconding the motion). “Even if the Council website were up, I would like this deferred so it can be P4 considered properly.
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