Shoalhaven City Council has voted to have the contentious Edgewater Motel development in Burrill Lake decided by council staff.
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At the strategy and assets meeting on July 9, a motion was brought forward to have the Edgewater Motel development application brought it, so it would be determined by councillors rather than council staff.
But the motion was lost by two votes.
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Cr Kaye Gartner, who has been outspoken on the development, said based on the amount of community interest and concern it should be decided by council.
"I highly recommend we take onboard the community concern and that we allow the community to have this DA debated at the full council as we do with virtually every other DA that has that amount of community interest," she said.
But Cr Andrew Guile said the council had already had significant debate about the main issue of the development, its height.
"The reality is there are varied views about this, there's great concern by those directly effect and that's quite understandable," he said.
"When you get into that type of environment most councillors just listen to the loudest voices and come under pressure.
"I've just been encouraging people to make their submissions, that's where the real work will be done, the submissions have to be taken into account in any determination the staff might make."
In April a petition with 712 signatures opposing the Edgewater Motel development in Burrill Lake was presented to council, but at the same time a petition supporting the development with a similar number of signatures was also circulating.
At the July meeting Cr Mitchell Pakes said he was"amazed" at the amount of people who had signed the petition who didn't have any association with the community.
"To have that amount of international signatories, I think we have to be careful that we don't take these petitions on face value and we actually dig down at get some information," he said.
The proposed new building will have three levels, consisting of ground floor parking, a second level including restaurant, bar, lakeside deck, and function space, with 25 rooms upstairs - most of which will have Burrill Lake, Pigeon House Mountain and ocean views.
For: Crs Proudfoot, Gartner, Digiglio, Findley, Levett and Alldrick.
Against: Crs White, Watson, Wells, Guile, Gash, Kitchener, Pakes and CEO.