Councillors and staff at odds over flood plain development
By Tim Howard
Clarence Valley Council has found itself offering conflicting information to a State Government planning body meeting this week to deal with a 284-dwelling development in West Yamba.
A combination of red tape and delays in providing information to the Northern Region Planning Panel has meant council staff have provided a recommendation to the panel to approve the development.
But at the May 28 ordinary council meeting councillors voted 5-2 to not approve the development because of serious non-compliance issues detailed in an attachment to the report in the council business paper.
At the council meeting council’s director environment and planning Adam Cameron revealed council staff were required to submit the staff recommendation to the planning panel before councillors could see it.
This had led to the councillors seeing a staff assessment made 18 months ago, which included a long list of non-compliances.
Mr Cameron said the staff had only submitted the most up to date assessment to the NRPP on the morning of the council meeting.
He said there was nothing to stop the council staff and councillors making differing submissions to the NRPP.
“An elected council may make a submission on a development application to be determined by the panel up to seven days before the panel meeting and may speak to the to the submission at the public determination meeting,” Mr Cameron said.
The unusual regulations around planning panel operation created this situation.
When a development of regional significance comes to a planning panel, effectively council staff work for the planning panel and its rules forbid sharing that work, even with the councillors who effectively are their employers.
Mr Cameron confirmed this to the meeting.
“The council resolution and the officer assessment report are two different things,” he said.
“The officer assessment report is undertaken independent of the elected body in accordance with the planning panel operating procedures.”
Cr Greg Clancy moved the council make a submission to the NRPP when it met on June 11 to not support the 284-lot sub-division.
The applicant for the development is Garrard Building Pty Ltd acting for the owner, Kahuna No.1 Pty Ltd.
Cr Clancy said the submission to not approve was a “no brainer” due to the number and seriousness of the non-compliance issues raised in the staff’s preliminary assessment.
“These are serious non-compliances and omissions,” Cr Clancy said.
“And I think the assessment briefing report which is available to us is what we have to take as our view of the planning issues in relation to this.
“We can’t see the report to the planning panel till after the planning panel.”
Cr Clancy then presented an extensive list of non-compliance issues, which were listed in Attachment A to the report to council.
The motion’s seconder, Cr Bill Day, said his concerns were the impacts on roads, parking and infrastructure and dramatic increases in population and numbers of motor vehicles using local roads.
Cr Karen Toms agreed the list looked damning, but said the staff report to the panel could well contain measure the developer had taken to fix them.
“I feel that without actually knowing what the assessment is from our professional staff, that we are not prepared to support a motion without actually seeing how they’ve addressed those issues,” she said.
“And we can’t do that yet because that’s how it works with the planning panel.”
Cr Steve Pickering spoke in support of not approving the development.
He has been a critic of the NRPP “taking over” from council in planning matters and has put up a notice of motion calling for the NRPP structure to change to allow councillors to comment on matters before it.
After the meeting Cr Pickering said the current structure disempowered councillors and made them feel like they weren’t in a position to make a decision on these sort of developments.
Outside of council other groups were also preparing submission against the development, which has attracted 330 submission from the public.
Yamba Community Action Network was one of the groups making a submission, with its secretary Lynne Cairns addressing the panel.
Ahead of the June 11 hearing she said one of YambaCAN’s key concerns was providing adequate evacuation for residents during floods.
“Evacuation plans rely on using Yamba Rd to get to the evacuation centre in Yamba Bolo and we know the road was cut for long periods during the February March 2022 flooding,” she said.
“And to get to Yamba Rd people would have to use Carrs Dr, Golding St and other roads that were also flooded for long periods.”
She said the amount of fill, up to three metres in some instances, meant homes built on these mounds became islands.
“People who get caught there or decide to stay will need to be supplied and it will mean extra work for SES and other emergency service carrying food or medical supplies or evacuating people.”
Greens MLC Sue Higginson will also make a submission to the panel and Dr Greg Clancy, will address the panel for the Clarence Environment Centre.
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