THERE was standing room only for a presentation by Sheargold representatives at last week’s meeting of the Hawks Nest Tea Gardens Progress Association.

Sheargold is the company behind the massive Riverside development being proposed for Tea Gardens.

If approved, Riverside will be home to approximately 935 dwellings on 725 lots.

Bob Lander, the Prime Consultant for Sheargold, presented a modified Concept Plan to the gathering.

Major points of difference included a change of location for the commercial side of the development, biodiversity outcomes, water management plans, traffic assessments and the removal of a proposed Eco Tourist precinct.

Also put forward for consideration, was a proposal for a riverside boardwalk and a ‘Tea Gardens Welcome” sign on Myall Street.

‘’We hope to be on the ground in the first quarter of 2018,” Development Manager Ledum Yorgure said.

“The first stage of construction will take almost a year because of all the infrastructure we have to do,” Project Advisor John Dunning told News Of The Area.

But not everyone was happy with the presentation.

“There were too many red herrings, too many unanswered questions,” local resident Denise Jacka said.

“Showing us a sign that they’re going to be putting on a corner and talking about the boardwalk, these weren’t the issues of the night, there were too many diversions,” Denise said.

“There were too many ‘gunnas’ and ‘maybes’ and ‘we might do this and we might do it later’,” local Ronnie Nicholls said.

“I’m really angry about the offset assets,” Ronnie added.

Tea Gardens resident Dave Hackett is worried about run off.

“Our main concern is the waterway, we’re worried about the amount of fresh water coming down to the lake,” Dave said.

“There’s a lot of fish in there at the moment, I don’t want to see them go, “Dave said.

The consensus by the end of the meeting was the need for more community consultation.

“Were happy with tonight’s meeting,” John Dunning said.

“Absolutely, we’ll have more community consultation as we take the process forward,” he added.

 

By Margie TIERNEY