I refer to Claude Cainero’s letter to the editor which was published in the media recently.
Mr Cainero commented on Armidale Dumaresq Council’s proposal to convert some community lands to operational land, with the view to selling the identified land, then applying the proceeds to an asset backlog.
Firstly, this proposal was chosen from a number of recommendations from the 2008/9 Review Today Report on council’s financial sustainability. These recommendations were made to limit the level of rate increases needed to address the issues that existed at that time, including an asset backlog. Secondly, it was chosen to satisfy the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) in the event that council made an application for a future special rate increase and thirdly, because of the Councillor’s attempt to limit the level of any special rate increases.
The land sale proposal was flagged in a number of public workshops that were held in 2009/10, where the issue of affordable housing was also raised by members of the community. This issue and proposal has been included in the Armidale Dumaresq Community Strategic Plan and in turn in this year’s Operational Plan. These Plans have been provided to the community for comment on numerous occasions prior to their adoption in June last year.
The land identified to be reclassified and sold is a very small area – 2 per cent of the 210 hectares of community public space owned by the Armidale Dumaresq Community. This land has been assessed by maintenance staff as having little to no use by the public and residents in the subject areas. Residents were viewed as having alternative public areas in close proximity to use, if desired.
While accepting that these difficult decisions are never popular, the reality is that this option needed to be explored, with the alternative being increased levels of special rates or service level decreases, suffered by the entire community. These options were not supported by the members of the public in the forums that were held in 2009/10.
Special rate increases are something that council sees as a last resort. Council has been trying to limit rate increases as part of the significant work in implementing financial sustainability recommendations since 2008. Considerable progress and achievements in this area have been made to date.
At this point, council staff have collected ratepayers and community views about this proposal. Council has not made any decision at this point in time. Once council has considered community submissions and feedback, it will decide if it wishes to take forward the proposal, or parts of the proposed lands, to the next step.
This involves inclusion in an amending Local Environment Plan. (Please note that this is not the main LEP process currently being undertaken). An amending LEP involves another round of community submissions and consideration by the Minister for Planning, prior to any final decision. This process may take another 6-12 months.
Shane Burns,
General Manager
Armidale Dumaresq Council
