Restructure for Council
Action on J’roo Preschool p3
Digging deep for Turkiye
Win for local cheesemaker p3
p8
Kiama Jazz & Blues Fest guide p13
p9-12
25 FEB 2023
Crucial meeting to set Council’s future
Golden Valley Rd DA in limbo
Councillor Matt Brown, with the support of Councillors Mark Croxford and Warren After a year of numerous debt and our community.” es we are going to make, not Steel, has lodged a rescission confidential briefings and While at the time of writing only in our strategy in our op- motion over the decision by meetings, Kiama councillors the business papers have yet erations, but in our thinking. the other councillors at the are to hold an Extraordinary to be published, an Open Let“We are going to be redefin- February Council Meeting Meeting on Tuesday 28 ter to the Community from ing how Council approaches to reject the Golden Valley February which will lay bare Council (see page 6) says the the future.” Road DA. the detail behind the crucial The DA, for a 51 lot estate public meeting will cover topAsked what would happen financial decisions they are on the eastern boundary of ics previously confidential: if the course recommended being asked to make, includ- • the Blue Haven business Jamberoo, was recommendwasn’t supported, he says, ing the sale of the whole of ed for acceptance by staff case “The situation will be dire.” Blue Haven. after a two year process. • the liquidity management He is encouraged that “Next Tuesday we are “People in Kiama and plan councillors are looking at going to put to councillors Jamberoo expect the rule of • the cashflow plan solutions rather than the an opportunity to change the • repayment of TCorp debt problems. law to be applied – that is if situation for the better,” says • the distribution of the you comply with the law then “They are mature enough Mayor Neil Reilly. you need to be respected by proceeds of Akuna St as decision makers to make “We have been caught in its decision makers,” says • the property divestment the right choices to change the gloom of financial unplan the direction of Council from Councillor Brown. certainty for 12 months, and • the service review scope “Council has spent over a council that is in debt and now with the support of staff, for commercial services. under performance orders to $200,000 in resources on consultants and councillors, “I want people to read the this development and indeone that is sustainable and we believe that we have a pendent professional officers facts for themselves,” says has a bright future, free of a sustainable way forward. have recommended approval. CEO Jane Stroud. structural deficit.” “We have reached a point Councillors need to respect To that end, Mayor Reilly People wishing to attend where we know what has says the business papers the meeting are being asked the process and the law, and gone wrong and we know have been written in a way to register, so that the venue the work of our staff. what is going to fix it – that is that people without a finance can be moved to The Pavilion “I expect this would be lost going to be systemic change background can understand. if necessary, given the limitin the Land & Environment in the way we approach our Court. Why should Kiama “I can’t emphasise enough ed capacity in the Council assets, our businesses, our ratepayers have to pay for the importance of the chang- Chamber.
poor decision making by councillors?” In proposing the motion now being contested, Councillor Karen Renkema-Lang said the DA must be rejected because it was inconsistent with a number of aspects of the Kiama Development Control Plan and concerns over the way Aboriginal heritage was being managed. “I do not oppose development in this area, but this proposal in its current form is what I’m most concerned about,” she said. Her motion echoed concerns outlined in Public Access by the Secretary of the Jamberoo Valley Ratepayers & Residents Association, Ros Neilson, who cited many reasons, including it being out of character with the rest of the village, access and traffic concerns and visual impact. In response to the decision,
Lawson Fredericks, of the developer Fountaindale Group, said, “It’s very disappointing that Kiama councillors did not support their own staff’s recommendation for approval of the Golden Valley subdivision. “We have been through two years of negotiation with Council officers and various State Government departments and it’s clear that our proposal is compliant with all relevant policies so this is obviously a political decision. “We will be considering our position over the next few days and taking expert legal advice regarding our options.”