Karlos family at the centre of a feud over water mining in Tweed have applied for a helipad on their rural property
A TWEED councillor has claimed local council are ‘bullying’ water baron Matthew Karlos after requesting log books for his helicopter operations on the outskirts of the Gold Coast.
Council
Don't miss out on the headlines from Council. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A FAMILY at the centre of a community feud between environmentalists and the Tweed Valley water bottling industry are now trying to fly under the radar.
The Karlos family — who have been carting water out of their rural property for more than a decade — now want a helipad.
The operations have caused concerns for the rural community 20km south west of Coolangatta, with claims that roads are too small for the large tankers taking the water away.
The helipad application has now also been met with opposition from neighbours who fear the flights would create more noise.
The development application states that the helicopter would be flown by Matthew Karlos “for personal transport to and from work towards Brisbane”.
TWEED HEADED TOWARD WATER CRISIS THANKS TO BOOMING POPULATION
On Thursday night councillors postponed making a decision on the helipad development and Mayor Katie Milne requested to see a log book before they would make a decision.
She said there were reports from the community that helicopters were already landing and taking off from the property.
“We have a situation where these helicopter movements have been going on for a number of months now without any approval whatsoever,” she said.
“The community down there has been heavily impacted, this property has been running helicopter movements.
“A helicopter taking off and landing is a very noisy operation.”
Cr Warren Polglase said the council was “bullying” the Karlos family.
“Those flights could be commercial-in-confidence and we should not be demanding the applicant present them to us,” he said.
PUSH TO BUILD STUDENT-DESIGNED FLOATING STRUCTURE FOR TWEED RIVER
“I think council shouldn’t be bullying the applicant to be putting forward something he doesn’t have to.”
Cr Chris Cherry said councillors weren’t bullying the Karlos family because they were only “requesting” the log books.
“I think we owe it to the neighbours,” she said.
“It just allows us a bit of perspective, it makes sense to get all of this information.”
Councillors Ron Coopers, Reece Byrnes, Katie Milne and Chris Cooper voted in favour of requesting the log books.
Warren Polglasse, James Owen and Pryce Allsop voted against it.
The family have been bottling bore water since 2003 from their Urliup property, 20 minutes drive south west of Coolangatta.
GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS FOR 50C A DAY
The latest application comes after the family company Eniflat’s bid to increase the size of trucks carting water from the property to 19m.
This was met by opposition from the community, with people claiming the rural roads were too small for trucks of that size.
Tweed Shire Council refused that application which Eniflat then challenged in the New South Wales Planning and Environment Court.
When the court visited the site in March there were hundreds of people there to protest.
The matter was part-heard. It has been relisted for further hearing on 12 and 13 September.
‘It’s forward-facing’: What key figures really think of cableway
The renewed push by Mayor Tom Tate for a Gold Coast Hinterland cableway has divided the community. FIND OUT WHY
Fresh twist in plans for ridiculed Yatala lights
The future of the Yatala lights artwork on the M1, which has been ridiculed by the public, has been decided in a special council meeting. Here’s what they decided to do.