News

The new Council was elected following the 13th September 2008 Mayoral and Council election.

Some of us recently had a meeting with a representative of a Sydney based developer proposing to build a 114 unit retirement village on a portion of the land in the proposed Rosedale Farm development. Rosedale Farm proposes to have 141 lots and this addition represents an approximate net increase in the potential number of dwellings of 56% to 220. The Rosedale Farm proposal was lodged with Department of Planning nine months ago but has yet to be put on public exhibition*. However, Council appears to be the consenting authority for the retirement village proposal. On present indications, the DA for it could be on public exhibition very soon and may last for only 14 days. We are sending this information to allow you the maximum opportunity to discuss it and be prepared to comment if and when submissions are called. We will advise you by e-mailout as soon as this happens. You may make your own submission or pass your concerns to Committee for an Association response.

The following minute of the meeting, by Ian Holmes, has been cleared by the developer.

David Mackenzie

* The Rosedale Farm Preliminary Assessment can be viewed at Department of Planning > Major Project Assessments > Register of Major Projects > Illawarra/South Coast etc > search for number: MP 006_0038. The concept is described in three readily downloadable PDFs (1.2 - 1.9 MB) along with the Director General's Requirements. However, the concept plan being considered by the Dept. of Planning does not mention the retirement village plan, nor is it mentioned on Planning's website.

Retirement at Rosedale

It appears that the first work on the Mann/Rosedale Farm land will be a retirement complex.

Trumen Corp. has agreed to purchase 6.5 hectares of Rosedale Farm land with the intention of building "the most desirable retirement village in the district", in recognition of the demand in the area.

If you stand at the vegie sales truck, looking along the track behind it, their land will be on the north facing slope to the left of the track and they plan 114 dwellings (being a mix of 2 and 3 bedroom free standing and semi attached villas) with a community centre that will include a multipurpose hall, consulting rooms, a dining area and a range of recreational amenities.

The site is buffered by mature vegetation along GB Drive, is set back by the width of the riparian zone along Saltwater Creek and will be to the south of the future access road (the above track) into the rest of the Farm development area.

This road, on present indications, will align with Rosedale Parade creating cross roads with GB Drive.

Members of your committee and I met with a representative of the developer recently. We were surprised at how advanced their planning is. Their building application will be submitted in May and they hope to open to residents in 2010. Council appears to be the approving authority. Your committee will monitor developments with great interest and if it sees the necessity will respond to the Development Application with a submission.

Ian Holmes

Most resident ratepayers of Rosedale and Guerilla Bay will have received in the post Council's Rosedale and Guerilla Bay Sewerage Scheme Community Newsletter No.2 May 2008 along with a covering letter New $200 sewer charge and Rosedale/Guerilla Bay public meeting announcing the reinstatement of these proposed works in the Draft Management Plan 2008-2013.

The purpose of this news item is to:

1. alert members who may not have received these documents;
2. draw attention to the public meeting Council will hold in the Tomakin Community Hall at 7 pm Tuesday 20 May to discuss the proposal;
3. draw attention to the Draft Management Plan currently on display.

Proposed Sewerage Works

These two documents outline Council's commitment to the commencement in 2008-2009 of preconstruction activities for the provision of sewerage services to the villages of Rosedale and Guerilla Bay by including the works in its Draft Management Plan for 2008-2013. If the Draft is adopted, works will commence in 2008-9 with commissioning expected in 2010-2011.

Of interest to ratepayers is that there is a proposed annual sewer charge of $200 per property to be levied up to time of commissioning. The covering letter to property owners states that the fee may be reviewed next year to ensure an appropriate level of recovery of preconstruction costs. Once the scheme is commissioned, the full sewer charge will be introduced: the full sewer charge is $617 in 2008-2009 and is paid each year as part of council rates.

A public meeting is to be held on Tuesday 20th May at Tomakin Community Hall commencing at 7pm to explain the reasons for the special rate and the remaining steps in the project.

Please note that the date for the public meeting given in the posted version of the Community Newsletter had the incorrect date.

Draft Management Plan 2008-13

This went on exhibition on 7 May. Residents are invited to comment on any aspect of the plan by writing or emailing Council prior to close of business on Wednesday June 4. All submissions from the public are considered by the councillors and they may amend the draft plan as a result of comments from the community. Eurobodalla Mayor Neil Mumme will present a summary of the Council's budgets and plans for the 2008-09 financial year at a public information session next Monday night (May 19) at 7 pm in the Council Chambers at Moruya.

Links to added reading

• Draft Management Plan
• Sewerage Newsletter No 2
• Infrastructure Report. See the second last item — Infrastructure Report 108/3, pp 34-40 and two attachments. This contains useful additional background information and refers to the high bacterial counts in lagoon water reported in the last Association newsletter.

David Mackenzie

The 2008 AGM was held conjunction with a Special General Meeting on Saturday 22 March. Please click on the links below to read the minutes of these meetings:

• Annual General Meeting - 2008 minutes
• Special General Meeting minutes

A new committee was formed. See Committee for 2008.

We thank the Kidman family for the use of the Cabins' Lawn for the AGM.

Special General Meeting

A Special Meeting of the Rosedale Association Incorporated was held on Saturday 22 March 2008 in conjunction with the Annual General Meeting to consider the following special resolution:
   That the constitution of the Rosedale Association Incorporated be amended as follows:

• 36 (3) The assets and income of the Association shall be applied solely in furtherance of its objects and no portion shall be distributed directly or indirectly to the members of the Association except as bona fide compensation for services rendered or expenses incurred on behalf of the Association.
• 36 (4) In the event of the Association being wound up, the amount that remains after such winding up and the satisfaction of all debts and liabilities shall be transferred to another organisation with similar purposes which is not carried on for the profit or gain of its individual members.

The special resolution was carried unanimously.

Emmett O'Loughlin, Bill Maher, and David Mackenzie have submitted a response on behalf of Rosedale Association Inc. To read their full response please click on the link Response to Marsim's Environmental Assessment. The main concerns addressed in the response are:

1. The essential need to preserve the aquatic habitat of the two major waterbodies that will be affected by the development
2. The need to plan this and adjacent developments via an Integrated Master Plan for their catchments
3. The inadequacy of the hydrological analysis that claims to maintain or improve the status quo for runoff patterns and pollutant inflows to the receiving waterbodies
4. The need for an independent agent to carry out monitoring studies and to apply adaptive management techniques to ensure that the intended WSUD design principles work as intended
5. Riparian strips should be extended in area to treat greater runoff and stormwater volumes and reduce dependence on engineered solutions
6. The access road should be relocated to the eastern margin of Bevian Wetland
7. The traffic study is inadequate; it should be conducted taking account of tourist peak periods, and the additional Rosedale Farm development
8. The additional demands to be placed on community services, especially medical and educational, have been ignored.

Permanent water conservation measures came into effect in the Eurobodalla Shire on 15 May. The main points affecting housholders are:

• Council recommends that hoses not be used between 11am-4pm EST (Winter) and 10am-5pm DST (Summer) and that lawn and new turf not be watered between these times.
• Water must not be used to clean hard surface areas such as paths, driveways, parking areas etc, unless cleaning is required for the following purposes: As a result of accidents, removal of algae growth, moss etc, prior to cleaning or painting.
• Vehicles to be cleaned on grass areas where possible, using buckets and a final rinse with a trigger nozzle hose at any time.
• Boat washing and motor flushing may be conducted as for vehicle washing above.

For the Council's official statement see Permanent water conservation measures.