By JO HARRISON
ARMIDALE Dumaresq Council may have to proceed with a compulsory land acquisition process to secure a new tip site for the region.
The move has been flagged if a second and final offer for the part-purchase of the properties Sherraloy and Edington, which have been earmarked for the new landfill site, cannot be negotiated with the owners.
At an extraordinary council meeting on 8 July council reserved its decision taken at the extraordinary council meeting on 1 July and supported the original motion for the General Manager Shane Burns to continue with the proposed acquisition of land.
Deputy Mayor Herman Beyersdorf is relieved that some councillors who were wanting to investigate potential alternatives to a new landfill site have reversed their decision and are now supporting the purchase.
“The options that some councillors were looking at for alternatives to the new landfill site were a bit pie in the sky,” Cr Beyersdorf said.
“For the last 20 years, we as a council have done a lot to revert waste to recycling and composting and have kept abreast of the newest technology but the reality is that a landfill is still something that is needed in the foreseeable future for an operation the size of Armidale.”
The acquisition of the land is the first in a number of steps towards establishing a landfill. The council has also signed-off on a $14 million loan to construct the tip that does not include the purchase of the land, for which it already has money in reserves.
“The $14 million loan has already been approved by the Armidale community but now we are going through the process for approval to take out the loan through the Division of Local Government,” Mr Burns said.
“We are in the process of doing that in line with council’s resolution.”
Mr Burns stressed that the initial estimates for a $14 million loan is not considered out of the ordinary for a council the size of Armidale Dumaresq.
“What I want to make really clear is that we will not know the exact price until such time as we got to tender,” he said.
“We are already paying a landfill levy and this will service the loan once it is taken out.
“There won’t be any extra (rate) increases to service the loan.”
