10 things learnt from council

THERE was nothing ordinary about the Toowoomba Regional Council’s latest round of meetings, with plenty of important information for residents.

Here is the best of what we learnt from the council at its ordinary meeting and outside the chambers:

1. Battle-axe block anger

NEIGHBOURS and residents have expressed their disappointment at a two-storey house proposed on a battle-axe block in one of Toowoomba’s leafiest suburbs.

Plans for the new house at 48A Dunmore St in East Toowoomba were submitted through Property Projects Australia last week.

Town planner James Juhasz argued in his report to the council the house and carport generally complied with the TRC’s planning scheme, including the neighbourhood character overlay.

2. Water rates

THE Toowoomba Regional Council adopted a split-price system for its latest round of water rate bills sent out last week.

Cr Mike Williams said the the new approach was designed to keep water prices affordable to the majority of residents.

Under the scheme, residential properties will be hit with a 4.1 per cent increase, whereas non-residential titles will see a six per cent jump.

3. New street art

THE acclaimed First Coat Festival might not return in its prior form any time soon, but its co-founder Grace Dewar still has plans to keep Toowoomba’s growing street and laneway art culture alive.

Ms Dewar said she was working on a proposal to deliver to the Toowoomba Regional Council later this year, which would create up to two new public art pieces every year across the Toowoomba CBD.

Ms Dewar rose to prominence in the Garden City as both an artist and one of the coordinators of the First Coat Festival, which brought national and international artists to Toowoomba to decorate the city’s laneways and walls with beautiful murals and pieces.

4. TLPI extension

THE Toowoomba Regional Council has extended the life of a temporary measure to curb dual occupancy approvals while it tries to make amendments to its planning scheme.

The councillors voted unanimously at the ordinary meeting last week to install a new temporary local planning instrument (TLPI) in place of the previous one, which was about to expire in December.

The move continues a plan to try to control dual occupancy proposals to ensure they matched the communities in which they were proposed.

The permanent amendment to the planning scheme is still being developed and is expected to be finished next year.

5. Cahill slams decision

THE only Toowoomba councillor who identifies as an Aboriginal Australian has slammed his colleagues for not naming him as the chair of a new indigenous advisory committee.

Cr Bill Cahill said he was “bitterly disappointed” after his bid to be named as the head of the new committee, the first of its kind in the council since 2008, failed on a narrow vote at the ordinary meeting on Tuesday.

The new committee will instead be chaired by Cr Geoff McDonald, who pushed the original motion last month to develop it.

6. New CCTV trailer

THE Toowoomba Regional Council will soon have a mobile CCTV trailer that could be deployed into crime hot spots where there isn’t surveillance.

The council’s environment and community department announced the new trailer, worth about $30,000, would be in use before Christmas.

“The mobile CitySafe camera trailer has been ordered and that’s to monitor areas where we don’t have permanent cameras,” officer Kevin Jefferies told the councillors in the meeting on Tuesday.

7. Carnival patronage

INITIAL reports from the council suggest the 2018 Carnival of Flowers was as big as last year’s event.

While final numbers were still being tallied, environment and community general manager Nick Hauser told the councillors that the festival improved its mid-week numbers, with plenty staying for longer.

“Feedback from tour operators was that many out of town visitors were concerned that the drought would impact the quality of the gardens, but visitors who did attend made no such comments with preliminary feedback indicating that Toowoomba once again turned out a spectacular floral display,” he wrote in his report.

8. Depot tenders

TENDERS have been invited for the design and construction of a Toowoomba Regional Council Principal Depot.

Councillor Geoff McDonald said the new depot at 24 Nass Rd in Charlton would be a purpose-built, environmentally sustainable facility to meet the needs of the council and the community.

“The project will deliver a modern facility with improved amenities and a safer, more efficient working environment for all council staff,” he said.

9. Green strategy

TOOWOOMBA Regional Council in support of local environment organisations has drafted a new initiative to address future development in the Garden City.

The council alongside the DDEC and PROTECT held a community consultation session to reveal the first draft of the Green Infrastructure Strategy on Wednesday.

Darling Downs Environment Council community organiser Paul King said the strategies would establish ecological principles to future developments.

10. Compliance visits

COUNCIL water compliance officers and leak checkers will be sent out to communities in the Toowoomba region hit by new water restrictions.

Cr Nancy Sommerfield said the enforcement would clamp down on those still not following the strict new rules, which were introduced after significant stresses on bores were detected last month.

“Once we notify people that they are using more water than they should be, if they continue to use more then we will have compliance step in,” she said.