Council Meeting - 17 December 2020

ITEM 8.3: DRAFT RURAL LAND USE STRATEGY PROPOSED USE OF ZONE E3 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Recommendations A, C and D

Key Points:

• Broad support of a majority of Councillors, with the exception of the Mayor, for the removal of the proposed new E3 zones across the LGA - the Tinderrys south to Numeralla/Nimmitabel, east of Numeralla, Yaouk area, Shannnon's Flat, Snowy Plain West of Eucumbene River and Varney's range. Councillors recognised the deep anxiety expressed by farmers and by all those who have lodged submissions with Council on the issues that the rezoning proposal brings;

• Recognition among Councillors and Council that the proposal has wide-spread impacts for most landholders and farmers across the area;

• All Councillors were engaged in the conversation and presented their views, opinions and the concerns they have heard from members of the community;

• The ​proposal to set the minimum lot size across much of the farm land in the LGA to 250 hectares and its impacts requires additional thought and community consultations to address the issues that the significant increase brings;

• Increasing the minimum lot size and removing dwelling options on existing land lots below the new minimum is widely accepted as not a suitable option;

• Better, more inclusive community consultation on the E3 zoning and Minimum Lot Size proposals is required to ensure all the impacts and concerns are addressed and taken into account;

• Recognition that Council staff, particularly the Planners, have been engaging with communities and have been listening to concerns raised by communities, landholders and farmers;

• Councillors have thanked community members for being engaged in the process, being respectful towards Council staff, while ensuring that issues and concerns are raised.

• Acknowledgement that ‘one size fits all’ ​land planning proposals by Council does not work for the whole LGA. Different areas of the LGA require different solutions;

• There was support among Councillors and the members of the public who addressed the meeting for the establishment of a Community Reference Group/Steering Committee/Advisory Committee which would allow the broader community to provide its views, interests and inputs into the Strategy (and the Settlements Strategy) and allow the community (landholders, farmers, businesses, community organisations and individuals) to be fully informed about planning matters that affect it;

• Council have confirmed that they have sent letters to approximately 2000 community groups and landholders impacted by the draft Strategies. This represents approximately 7.1% of the 27,952 rateable properties¹ within the LGA.

• There is no prescribed time frame for this process to completed. It can take as long as it needs to, to get it right.

What was agreed:

• The recommendations A, C and D of Agenda Item 8.3 were discussed at length, but as Councillors could not agree on a motion either for or against the recommendations, a Council vote on the all recommendation in the agenda item lapsed.

• Council to keep progressing community consultations on the DRLUS and the public submission process through to 1 February, 2021;

• No changes to the DRLUS until after all submissions have been received by Council on 1 February 2021;

• Recommendation D was not agreed.

Recommendation B – Amend the draft Rural Land Use Strategy to clarify the role of this project in relationship to the Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct

Key points:

• Following a presentation in the public forum outlining the importance of the SAP to land planning purposes and the future development of the SAP region, there was limited discussion relating to the SAP by Councillors on this recommendation.

• Councillors could not agree on a motion either for or against the recommendations, therefore the council vote on this critical additional recommendation also lapsed.

• It was mentioned that the Special Activation Precinct Master Plan is due for release in March/April 2021.

• The Snowy Mountains SAP is covered in detail in the DRLUS Draft Settlements Strategy, specifically the Executive Summary and Section 5: Jindabyne (pg 93-114); and in the Draft Rural Land Use Strategy (first half of page 72).

More information can be found at: Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct - (nsw.gov.au)

Where to from here?

• The community should keep involved in the consultation process;

• Continue discussions with your neighbours, friends, family – get as many people involved in as you can;

• Make submissions to Council! Cover all the issues in the Draft Rural Land Use Strategy (and draft Settlements Strategy) that will have negative impacts on your land ​if the proposals outlined in the draft Strategies are adopted by Council;

• If your area needs and wants a community meeting to discuss the Strategies, ask Council staff for one. Approach your areas Community/Progress/Action Association, Chamber of Commerce, Management Committee to form a group requesting these meetings/discussions;

• The Snowy Monaro community has made progress on some key issues of broad concern in the DRLUS raised with Council and Councillors through our submissions to Council and face-to-face meetings with Council staff. Council has acknowledged that there are significant and widespread issues and impacts that they were ​unaware of or didn’t realise would be of deep concern to landowners and farmers throughout the LGA.

¹ Elton Consulting, Snowy Monaro Employment Lands and Rural Lands Analysis Final Report, 30 April 2020, page 95 - https://yoursaysnowymonaro.com.au/62136/widgets/312679/documents/183770