Dune environment report to be exhibited
An environmental review for the Ettalong Beach Dune Management Plan is now expected to be placed on exhibition for public comment.
Publication of the review and an extension of the exhibition period until Friday, September 15, were the outcomes of a public information session convened by Member for Peats Ms Marie Andrews last Friday.
Council staff at the meeting also revealed that "late changes" to the plan were not reflected in documents on exhibition for public comment.
They told the meeting that a fenced vegetation area was now 15m wide, not 10m as shown in the plan.
When asked whether there were any other changes not contained in the documents on exhibition, Mr Glen conferred with three other council officers and then replied that there were none that they could recall.
Mr Glen told the meeting the "View to the Future" poster that was also on exhibition was a concept that the consultants had been asked to address.
This poster included the closure of The Esplanade.
He said implementation of this concept would require Council to find additional funds, provide detailed traffic management studies, and consult with community members.
Ms Andrews announced at the start of the meeting that the exhibition period for public submissions had been extended until Friday, September 15.
Mr Glen made a presentation, saying that the Ettalong Beach Foreshore Plan of Management covered the whole Ettalong Beach area, while the Dune Management Plan only covered the Town Beach precinct.
A range of questions was asked by community members, including:
*
What percentage of dune vegetation is to be removed?
* Why were some stakeholders excluded from the stakeholders planning meetings when others had been included?
* At the one stakeholder meeting the questioner was allowed to attend, why was she told by Mr Glen that she was not allowed to speak?
* Had the $300,000 had been paid by the Club?
* How would Council commit to maintenance when they had failed so far to do this?
* How could residents be sure that our money was not being used to boost returns on the financial investments of the Resort's shareholders?
* Why hadn't the Review of Environmental Factors document used as the basis for the Dune Management Plan been placed on public exhibition?
* Why did the plans include outdated information?
* And, what recent specialist advice was included in the plans about dune and foreshore protection and rehabilitation, specifically in respect to removing dune vegetation?
In response to some of these questions, Mr Glen agreed that the $300,000 had not been paid.
He said the payment was for projected works in the whole Master Plan area.
He said other funds had been committed to the project, $267,000 plus $60,000, and that additional funds would be sought through Regional Partnerships grants when the plan was approved.
He also said the area was subject to Council's Section 94 funding allocation, through its Contribution Plan 31C.
Mr Glen said Andrews Neil consultants had ecological expertise, and their advice was that Council could remove the hatched area vegetation.
He said the foreshore plan of management had been approved by Council in 2003, and that the document date had been changed but not the data.
He said the plan had been placed on exhibition now because Council had failed to submit it to the Lands Department, as required, at that time.
Mr Glen said that, as for the selection of stakeholders, his aim was to "get those people around me to determine what should happen".
He said that the questioner had been included in the meeting.
Other comments and questions were made by the audience about the amenity of the beach, parking and access, sand replenishment, erosion and views.
Mr Glen said the plan was a compromise that would not please everyone.
After the meeting, Mr Glen said the Review of Environmental Factors would now be placed on exhibition.
Lyle Stone, September 1