A proposal to rezone and reduce the minimum lot size of land at Darraby Lodge, Broughton Street, Moss Vale has been given 'in principle' support by Wingecarribee Shire councillors.
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The decision was made at the October 28 Ordinary Meeting of Council.
The Darraby Lodge submission put forward in 2016 and sought to develop the site by rezoning the land to R2 Low Density. It is currently zoned as E3 environmental management.
A recommendation to provide 'in principle' support for the planning proposal and to reconsider the submission when infrastructure shortfalls were resolved was supported by councillor Grahame Andrews and seconded by councillor Graham McLaughlin.
A foreshadowed motion was flagged by Councillor Larry Whipper to not give 'in principle' support.
Councillor Ken Halstead stated he would not be voting for the recommendation.
"We have a local housing strategy in play at the moment which is with the department of planning and that will be processed in due course," he said,
"I'm wondering why we have another case of a private developer trying to jump the gun because that's what this is, no matter how you look at it.
"I'm strongly opposed by this motion as it currently stands."
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Councillor Andrews said there was a simple reason why he endorsed the recommendation.
"Councillors may be right with the danger in supporting something in principle, I'm not sure, but mainly it's because we identified this parcel of land for rezoning earlier this year," he said.
"So I will continue to support the recommendation."
Councillor Ian Scandrett said he was worried about the capacity of the sewerage system.
"This concerns me, I think things have changed since we looked at the local housing strategy in June," he said.
Councillor Whipper also said he was against the recommendation.
"I have grave concerns over supporting things 'in principle' and my experience has been that once you give 'in principle' support, you set up an expectation with the developer and it is approval as far as I'm concerned," he said.
"I looked at the report and I see the Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP) have raised considerable concerns about this proposal, not the least of those are the impacts on the endangered ecological community.
"Our E3 Zones were put in place for a specific purpose, to protect our environment and landscapes. My concern is that incrementally we are losing that, little by little our endangered ecological communities are being compromised. Once you start to disturb those communities, they don't grow back. You can't just replace them.
"I think we need to pull back and give this time to go through the process. To give that approval now or even 'in principle' approval, I think flies in the face of everything we have tried to achieve with E3 zoning.
"I'm asking councillors to use a little a bit of discretion in relation to this."
Councillor Garry Turland suggested that council not provide an 'in principle' approval until the Department of Planning introduced a housing strategy.
Councillor Peter Nelson said he was aware of the JRPP proposal.
"We did have an inspection of this," he said.
"The area will have to wait until the sewage system is upgraded and that will take years. This is just giving some sort of certainty to the landowner and the planning staff so that the council can forward plan."
Supporting the motion was Cr McLaughlin who said the plan was part of the local housing strategy.
"This is something we looked at in June and it sounds like our strategic planners have looked at this after the JRPP have looked at this and obviously they've had some concerns and so has council staff," he said.
"That is why the whole site is not being approved. If the landowner is not approved tonight, they can have it reviewed, they can take it to the JRPP. It's only an 'in principle' support and given it will be two to three years down the track, a future council will have a close look at it.
"It's not set in stone. I hear what councillors are saying and Cr Whipper makes some good points.
"I know we don't like to to do 'in principle' but I think it does not mean that the whole lot will be used."
Mayor Duncan Gair also spoke to the motion.
"This has been looked at since 2004, we've inspected the site on numerous occasions and we all agree; it was carried unanimously on the June 24 meeting that we endorse the living areas of Moss Vale West," he said.
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"We looked at it in June as a council, we really queried this one because council was concerned.
"We looked at the ecological endangered area and that was the reason we didn't allow it to be included in the extension."
In his right of reply Cr Andrews said his sole reason for supporting the recommendation was because he couldn't escape the fact that council supported the parcel of land in June in regards to the local housing strategy.
"I don't know how we can virtually retract on our thinking or decisions back in June," he said.
Councillors Andrews, McLaughlin, Turland, Nelson and Gair voted for the motion.
Councillors Whipper, Halstead and Scandrett voted against it.
The motion was passed.
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Vera Demertzis
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
