Urban development and how residents can raise their concerns about future planning proposals were hot topics of discussion at the Ulladulla and Districts Community Forum meeting on Monday, September 4.
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At the previous August meeting, retired architect Emile Jansen put forward a motion for those in attendance to consider.
His motion called on Shoalhaven City Council to preserve remnant bushland habitats, require all development proposals to have a flora and fauna impact assessment, and for developers to lodge a surety against performance of the consent conditions equivalent to $5,000 per approved house block.
Support for the motion was to be decided at a future meeting, to allow residents to consider what was proposed.
However, a show of hands at the August meeting saw the majority of those present vote to take action to stop similar land clearing happening again in the region.
The forum’s executive sought comment from members over the past month and received mixed reactions, some displayed at Monday’s forum.
An alternative motion, that had less specific elements, was put forward at the September meeting.
Before people could vote to support or reject the alternative motion, Mayor Amanda Findley was invited to speak about concerns over the nature of development in the Southern Shoalhaven.
Cr Findley said she was going to string various “threads” together relating to subdivisions and clearing at Dolphin Point, Narrawallee and Manyana, the process of how a development was approved and conservation and ecological issues related to development.
She also addressed rumours of land acquisition and the rights of a developer, “bio-bank” credits, and advised residents to view the Shoalhaven Local Environment Plan 2014 to see how land was zoned in their area.
Some residents asked about possible expansion at Kings Point and Cr Findley encouraged residents to be active when lobbying bureaucracy.
“You have a right to contact council and the state government to have your say,” she said.
Before closing Cr Findley asked the forum if their discussion was useful, to which the consensus was “yes”.
The creators of both motions, Emile Jansen and Brigitte Nairn, were invited to meet with the forum’s committee for further discussion.
