COFFS Harbour City Council has voted to approve a motion to seek a property valuation for a tract of land located between Jordan Esplanade and the North Coast Railway Line at the Jetty Foreshores.

The land is currently owned by Australian Rail Track Corporation.

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Council rationale noted that while the land is “presently the subject of the NSW Government’s concept proposal for developing residential units” community consultation has shown that there is strong appetite for expansion and upgrade of recreational facilities in the Jetty Foreshores area.

Council noted that since Property Development NSW would need to purchase the land at market value on current zoning the “possibility of Council being a purchaser can also be explored”.

“A property valuation would allow Council and community the opportunity to make an informed decision as to whether an alternative vision based on public parkland is preferable for the area,” the Council rationale noted.

Mr Garth Shipperlee, who represented the Coffs Harbour Chamber of Commerce at the March 10 Council meeting, said their opposition to the motion was based on three main factors.

Shipperlee said the motion was premature as the NSW Government’s Project Steering Advisory Committee (PSAC) “has not concluded its terms of reference” and the proposed master plan had “not been released for phase two community consultation”.

He also said the consultation processes from phase one had inspired submission numbers from the community ‘well above’ any level of response for a Council Project.

“The priority of the phase two community consultation will involve the release of the project master plan so specific community views on what they want to see in the area is still unknown,” Mr Shipperlee claimed.

Meantime local resident Mr Bruce Weir spoke supporting the motion, saying the valuation push was “the first step in ensuring the Coffs Harbour community gets a fair dinkum say in how the foreshores are developed”.

“The community’s often expressed views on how development should proceed have been ignored,” Mr Weir told the Chamber.

“It’s our Foreshores and it should be our decision, not a decision made by faceless bureaucrats and consultants-for-hire.”

Shipperlee claimed the motion seeking valuation on the land also “doesn’t align with what Coffs Harbour City Council had said in its own submissions to the state department of planning and environment” in April 2021.

He told the chamber the valuation was “a waste of residents’ and ratepayers’ money”, claiming the land was in any case “not for sale”.

Mr Weir told the chamber that community consultations in 2018 had ranked the natural environment as the top priority “drawing tourists and locals alike to the foreshores”.

The same consultations had ranked hotel and tourist accommodation 26th in order of priority while provision of residential accommodation had not ranked at all.

The motion to seek an evaluation of the land was passed seven votes to two.

By Paul FOGARTY