Meeting against servo
Crows Nest to talk on new project
CROWS Nest residents will meet to develop a strategy against a highly controversial service station being proposed on a floodplain.
The community consultation period for the servo and car wash on the intersection of Albert St and the New England Highway ended on March 30, with dozens of residents making submissions against it.
Organiser Graham Blackman said the meeting was essential to address a number of issues, including the “obscene location” of the proposed development.
“We’re going to discuss who has put objections in and what those objections are about,” he said.
“The community consensus is that nobody is against development, but this is in the middle of the floodplain.
“Although we can’t object now, we want to keep this in the eyes of the council.”
Mr Blackman in March accused the council of “disenfranchising ratepayers” because of a seemingly short public consultation period.
Yesterday he doubled down on his assertions, saying he wanted the councillors to remain aware of the project.
“We’re not opposed to a service station, but this is on a floodplain and is still a “medium risk” for flooding according to their own estimates. It’s absolutely nonsense,” he said.
“They feel marginalised and ignored, so we want to let (the councillors) know about this.”
Cr Chris Tait clapped back at Mr Blackman last month, saying the rules around public notification periods were set by the State Government.
“This is solely the responsibility of the State Government as required by the relevant legislation,” he said.
“The Development Assessment Rules (Part 4) identifies the period of time in which an application must be publicly notified (in the case of this application, 15 business days) and how the notification is to be undertaken.”
The meeting will be held at the Crows Nest community hall on Tuesday from 6.30pm.
Residents and councillors are welcome.