DEAR News Of The Area,

FROM information being discussed via the members of the Nambucca RSL, the club is seeking a new lease for the future of the Club from the Council.

It also appears during the negotiation of the new lease, the Council is trying to be unreasonable and pressure the RSL into being a Cash Cow.

1. The claimed rental increase of 95% demanded is astronomically disproportionate to the land and rental values of the area, and a fairer rise should be negotiated

2. The RSL is the leaseholder, the Council is the manager of the parcel of Crown Land which the RSL is on, so, who is the owner of that parcel of land?

As mentioned, “investigation works are required by the property owner to determine the scope of works to fix the pavement issues”.

Therefore, surely, the responsibility and cost of the investigative work and the actual repairs process is on the owner!

Unless there is a legal requirement, as part of the condition in the lease giving the RSL the ownership responsibility for maintaining the site structure and stability.

3. The boardwalk and river beautification hardly becomes the RSL’s responsibility, and should be covered by the funding council receives, perhaps through the redirecting of other funds as the council seems to do.

4. As a former builder and building teacher, I believe that the whole foreshore site is somewhat unstable and it’s only trees, vegetation (which I have photos of), building debris, and luck supporting the foreshore’s collapse, from Gordon Park to the Boat Ramp in the RSL’s carpark.

It is only a matter of time before a landslide occurs, all at Council’s cost.

5. Taking the situation one morally or hypothetical business step further, the owner of the site should be responsible or liable for leasing an unsafe and unfit building site for lease, for public or other habitable uses!

In the end, one of Nambucca’s most popular entertainment venues deserves to be treated in a financially and obligation fair lease.

This would be a financial advantage to the Council, local community and visitors, by creating a tourism attraction.

Regards,
George MICOLICH,
Nambucca Heads.