THE TWEED
GREEN
Volume 2 #23 Thursday, February 18, 2010
SCENE
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LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Last-minute sabotage to Cobaki objections
Mural reaches halfway point
Ken Sapwell
Marty, one of the mural painters, and NORTEC placement officer Anna Rotondo admire the work showing a baby nesting Marble Frogmouth. Photo Jeff ‘Tagger’ Dawson
The halfway mark has been reached in the long and winding road to complete the colourful Treasures of the Tweed mural on the Murwillumbah levee wall. The panoramic mural depicts the shire’s unique flora and fauna, much of which is in danger of disappearing, including the Giant Barred Frog, Powerful Owl, Regent Bower Bird and the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly. Vulnerable koalas will also soon be part of the big picture. Since September last year, about 17 participants of the Work for the Dole scheme have been working on the Commercial Road mural running along the western side of the Tweed River bank. An initiative of Tweed Shire Council, the 700-metre long project will, when completed, become a pictorial representation of the rare and endangered flora and fauna of the Tweed
Valley and Mount Warning Caldera. Local artist David Adams has supervised the project for over two years now in collaboration with council, Tweed Landcare, the previous job-service provider, and now with NORTEC, which won the contract last year. He told The Echo how it worked, from the design stage conceived by him through to the research, drawing, layout, the numbered grid format and the eventual painting. ‘We’re nearly halfway there, with 320 metres already done. I teach the boys and show them all the different processes that go into painting, layering, the final touches. The ones that excel help me, and the others do things like washing the brushes and prepping the wall,’ David said. NORTEC placement officer Anna Rotondo said ‘everyone can do something’. ‘It’s also a lot about building teamwork and communication skills, increasing confidence and developing
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Chief planner Vince Connell said in the submission that the council’s own development control plans should not be over-ridden, before listing wideranging planning and engineering concerns with the proposed codes. He said they should be brought into line with the council’s development control plans to ensure the proper provision of community and social services and the creation of footpaths and cycleways that were not shown on plans. Under the proposed codes, engineering standards for roads, footpaths, cycleways and lot sizes were much lower than council’s minimum standards, he said, and sewer lines could be built under private property instead of under roads or easements. In urging council to back his submission at Tuesday’s meeting, he said the codes were likely to create confusion, conflict and enforcement problems and should have a range of requirements such as mandatory rainwater tanks to maximise rainwater re-use. continued on page 2
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social skills. Quite often they’re reluctant at the start but being part of a group and finally doing something makes them take ownership of something,’ Anna said. In inclement weather, it’s back to the dry NORTEC office where they can ‘draw up ahead of what we’re doing, and watch educational DVDs’, David said. He said the biggest challenge lay in ‘the fact it’s a long strip, it’s not just a rectangle. Getting it so that it flows from up close and from afar, and fits in with the environment, so that it works for all people, even young people.’ David said the response from the community had been very enthusiastic. ‘They love it! We’ve had a great response from passers-by. Every day, without a doubt, people stop and admire the work and make positive comments, residents come over and comment on it. It’s really satisfying work,’ he said.
Wide-ranging concerns
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A packed public gallery erupted in cheers when Tweed councillors voted narrowly to endorse a raft of concerns by senior planners over watered-down development controls for new towns at Cobaki Lakes and Kings Forest. But their elation was short-lived. Council voted 4-3 to send a submission to the Department of Planning objecting to its decision to allow billionaire developer Bob Ell to override the council’s own development controls in creating the two satellite cities. Crs Barry Longland, Katie Milne, Kevin Skinner and Joan van Lieshout also managed to include a request to the state government to conduct an independent review of the impacts of the mega developments before it gives them a final green light. But in an unexpected twist just minutes before the meeting was closed to the public, the 14-page submission by chief planner Vince Connell was put on ice after Cr Skinner performed a surprise back-flip and signed a rescission motion blocking the move. A small group of spectators who’d stayed to the end groaned in disbelief when public officer Neal Baldwin revealed that a rescission motion had been formally lodged, with mayor Warren Polglase and Dot Holdom also adding their signatures. The shock move will leave the submission in limbo until next month’s council meeting where it appears certain to be binned in a 4-3 vote with the support of deputy mayor Phil Youngblutt, who was the other councillor to oppose it. The tactic, which is certain to spark a public furore, creates a risk that the Planning Minister will sign off on the two projects without being aware of
the widespread concerns by senior planning and engineering staff. The ditched submission also included community concerns about plans to turn the two green field sites into homes for 22,000 people living in housing styles not seen in the shire before, including zero-setback dwellings and detached dwellings on blocks less than 450 square metres. Residents expressed fears the proposed developments were too dense, not environmentally friendly, could not be supported by existing infrastructure, may create adverse social issues and that a $20,000 cap on developer contributions was insufficient to meet infrastructure costs.