Bega Valley Shire Council Mayor, Russell Fitzpatrick, has slammed claims by a property developer that Council staff have “bungled” consents in relation to a $100 million resort project and hotel refurbishment at Eden.
In a statement, Mayor Fitzpatrick said Council “vehemently rejects all claims that staff have engaged in vindictive or poor behaviour – this is categorically untrue”.
The Mayor said Council acknowledged that it was experiencing a significant increase in development applications due to an increase in bushfire rebuilds and general development that has resulted in longer than expected time frames for development applications, construction certificates, building inspections, occupation certificates, s138 certificates and subdivision certificates.
“For example, we currently have a 35% increase in applications which equates to over 220 more than at the same time last year. In addition, we are navigating the impacts of COVID-19 on our small but hardworking team of DA assessment planners.”
He said Council continued to prioritise bushfire rebuilds and development applications that meet employment generating thresholds to help support recovery and future growth across the shire.
Developer, Core Asset Development Pty Ltd (CAD) has accused the Council of “slow and poor handling” of consents which could see work halted on two major projects at Eden (see related article).
“Council has been working with CAD since the lodgement of the development applications for the Sapphire of Eden development to progress this important project,” Mayor Fitzpatrick said.
“Consents were issued in September 2021 for a hotel development and October 2021 for construction residential flat buildings. Both applications were assessed as priority applications, noting the significant employment opportunities this development would generate.”
The Mayor said that as part of the assessment of the application for the residential flat buildings, Council staff identified that additional information was required to address the impact on the Imlay and Chandos Streets intersection.
“A condition was included in the consent requiring additional traffic impact information to be provided for consideration or alternatively the default intersection requirement would be a roundabout,” he said.
“At the time, CAD was advised that Council could consider an application to modify this condition based on updated traffic data. An application to modify the consent condition regarding the intersection upgrade was received on 8 December 2021 and is currently being assessed by Council staff.”
Council staff met with CAD to discuss the proposed changes to the Hotel Australasia consent in early December 2021 and advised that it would be necessary to submit a new development application due to the extent of the changes proposed.
“The development application was received early March and staff have commenced processing the application.”
“The two applications currently being assessed are not considered priority development for assessment purposes, however they will be assessed by staff as soon as practicable to enable the projects to continue,” said Mayor Fitzpatrick.
