THE Kempsey Shire Council meeting on Tuesday was held in front of a packed public gallery, with many there to hear the debate on the sale of the Rankine St car park at Crescent Head.
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The council meeting on the sale of the carpark discussed a recommendation put forward by Councillor Bruce Morris for:
1. Council not to proceed with the current Expression of Interest (EOI) process for the sale of, or development of, council’s carpark.
2. That council develops a Community Development Plan or Master Plan for the strategic development of the Crescent Head village in conjunction with the Crescent Head Development Focus Group (CHDFG) and the Crescent Head community.
3. That council not consider any further proposal for the sale of, or development of, council’s car park unless it is consistent with the Community Development Plan ultimately adopted by council for Crescent Head.
Before discussions took place to vote on the recommendation, two separate presentations were made, by Ben Latta from the CCHDFG, and Crescent Head Country Club secretary-manager, Colan Ryan.
“Crescent Head Country Club is calling on the Kempsey Shire Council to say no to the sale of the Crescent Head community car park to developers,” Mr Ryan said.
“The club believes the Crescent Head community are the true custodians of the car park and any move by the council to sell off the land should not be allowed."
Mr Ryan went on to say to develop the site would be inappropriate for development because of the need for disabled parking, the type of vehicles that use the car park, and power supply issues to name a few.
However, Mr Ryan went even further and offered for the Country Club to buy the car park from council.
Following Mr Ryan’s presentation, Mr Latta from the CHDFG could not cover the same ground, but did say “Crescent Head is a surfer's paradise, not Surfers Paradise”.
After the public presentations, the councillors discussed Cr Morris’s recommendation.
During discussions, Cr Shields and Cr McGinn raised the subject that the Crescent Head community was diverse, with some residents and business owners supporting the car park development.
“I have been approached by five business people in Crescent Head,” Cr McGinn said.
“The told me they are afraid of loss of business if they speak for the development and I believe the CHDFG does not speak for the whole community of Crescent Head.”
Cr Patterson then went on to ask if there was “a Development Application (DA) in front of council”.
“No, there is no DA that has been put to council,” council general manager David Rawlings said.
The council received an inquiry from a developer in 2013 for the development of a 26-room boutique hotel at the Rankine St car park, however, the developer has not yet submitted a DA to council.
Therefore, at this time, there is no suggestion that the council will be selling the car park.
Due to no DA being submitted, Cr Patterson moved a motion to have item 1 and 3 of Cr Morris’s recommendation removed, as well as removing the conjunction "with the CHDFG,” in item 2 of Cr Morris’s recommendation.
After discussions, the council moved the motion for:
• Council to develop a Community Development Plan or Master Plan for the strategic development of the Crescent Head village in conjunction with the Crescent Head community.
The motion was successful.
After the meeting, Mr Ryan issued a statement which said in part:
"Crescent Head Country Club is disappointed with the result and firmly believes the community car park at Rankine St should remain as a car park and not be sold to a developer.
"Furthermore, councillors Sue McGinn and Anna Shields made concerning comments to the effect that Ben Latta and Colan Ryan were not speaking on behalf of their community.
"This is in spite of the fact that a petition set up by the CHDFG has already attracted more than 2000 signatures against the sale of the car park to developers.
"We also believe people are free to express an opinion for or against this (or any issue) and we believe the community of Crescent Head is more mature than the picture being painted by some Kempsey Shire Councillors.
"The Crescent Head community are the true custodians of the car park, and Kempsey Shire Council should listen to our community."
