Massive Gulmarrad development on the nose with neighbours

'Nobody knew it had even been rezoned so when we got the papers in the letterbox we thought 'what the hell?'

NOT IN MY BACKYARD: Ed and Deb Doble stand with other local residents opposed to the creation of a 255-unit manufactured housing estate. Picture: Tim Jarrett

RESIDENTS in Gulmarrad are nervous over a proposed development for a 255-unit manufactured housing estate.

Debra Doble's house backs on to the site of the proposed estate and she says she was shocked the site was not zoned R5 (rural residential) like much of Gulmarrad was when the DA was lodged for Glencoe Lifestyle Resort.

"Nobody knew it had even been rezoned so when we got the papers in the letter box we thought 'what the hell?'," she said.

The planning proposal exhibited in 2011 stated because the rezoning was not a "low-impact planning proposal" due to the "significant change in local land use and character", along with public exhibition it was "also intended to communicate directly with land owners".

This is something which Ms Doble and other residents say never happened.

"The (council) minutes say there was no objections, well of course there was no objections because nobody knew about it," she said.

Clarence Valley Council manager of Environment, Development and Strategic Planning, Adam Cameron, said the rezoning formed part of the Maclean Urban Catchment Local Growth Management Strategy adopted by the then NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure.

"The strategy was subject to consultation and advertised broadly," he said.

"The zoning implications from the Local Growth Management Strategy were included in the Clarence Valley LEP which was gazetted in Dec 2011.

"The Draft CVLEP was also subject to broad community consultation across the entire Clarence Valley."

Ms Doble said after she successfully pushed for an extension to the two-week public consultation period in September, more documents appeared on the the council website - at the end of the original consultation period.

"All of a sudden six more documents appeared on the council website, so why wasn't all that information on there?" she said.

Mr Cameron said after the council granted the "unofficial" submission extension, information on the website was also extended by two weeks.

"There was a request from the community for additional information so the attachments to the Statement of Environmental Effects were added," he said.

"These attachments are not new information but detail which is provided in the SOEE."

Those documents included stormwater drainage plans, a draft Plan of Management and a Social Impact Statement, which stated there would be no age restrictions on residents.

"Given that purchasers cannot borrow against the purchase of the home due to the residential land lease nature of the development and the community facilities to be provided and the smaller lot sizes it is anticipated that the Resort would appeal to more mature demographic rather than younger families." the report stated.

A spokesperson for Glencoe Lifestyle Resort has since said that "village rules will go to ensuring all residents are in the over-55 demographic".

But Ms Doble remains unconvinced as MHE's are not bound by the same regulations as a normal subdivision.

"Even the language is vague, lots of should be's, could be's and maybe's," she said.

Originally published as Massive Gulmarrad development on the nose with neighbours