Top council issues of the latest term
AS THE latest iteration of the Toowoomba Regional Council draws to a close, it’s easy to forget how impactful and controversial the past four years have been for the region.
Here is The Chronicle’s list of the five biggest talking points from the past four years, in no particular order.
1. MOUNT LOFTY
A DEVELOPMENT that is nearly as old as the council term and certain to outlive it, Defence Housing Australia proposed a 379-hectare housing estate on Rifle Range Rd in Mount Lofty in early 2017.
The masterplanned development was instantly met with fierce opposition from residents, who had serious issues around traffic and the project’s threat to native koala habitat.
Mount Lofty soon became covered in anti-DHA posters, signs and even blown-up corflutes of The Chronicle front pages, with residents making their concerns heard in letters to the editor and in public submissions to the project.
The applicant officially lodged the project in mid-2018 to start the council approval process, before “stopping the clock” on the DA process last year.
2. PLAN BOTCHED
IN A process Mayor Paul Antonio admitted the council had not handled well, the illfated Highfields Cultural Precinct Master Plan was unveiled to residents north of Toowoomba in early 2017.
What started as a concept to shape and zone the growing Highfields community properly became a massive dispute between residents and the council, after it was revealed the plan might require resuming homes to build upgrades.
Locals also had serious issues with the layout and position of the new Highfields Library.
The council suddenly found itself on the receiving end of petitions, angry letters and phone calls.
Councillors voted to scrap several parts of the plan in July 2017, including the compulsory acquisition of homes, and rebranded the project as the Central Highfields Master Plan a year later.
The saga took an unusual turn in late 2017, when The
Chronicle revealed the council bought 19 hectares from Clive Berghofer for $8 million.
3. GATED COMMUNITY
WHEN it comes to staunch grassroots opposition to a development application, they don’t come any more intense than the backlash against a gated community at Prince Henry Heights.
Residents opposed a plan to build 40 homes along the escarpment.
The plan was proposed in late 2017 before hundreds of locals gathered to fight the development’s approval.
Incredibly, the community action worked in swaying the councillors, who voted unanimously against the project.
But the vocal celebrations were short-lived, with the developer Shangri-La International Holdings Pty Ltd appealing the decision in the planning and environment court in August 2018. The council finally agreed to settle.
4. MAYOR FINED
MAYOR Paul Antonio ultimately faced the heaviest casualty over the issue of conflicts of interest, as new legislation made council meetings a more complicated affair towards the end of the term.
Cr Antonio was fined nearly $15,000 by a now-defunct local government review panel in late 2018 after it found he had engaged in misconduct over his dealings with the massive Inland Rail project.
The panel’s findings revolved around three acts of misconduct, including the mayor’s decision to fund an alternative route for the Inland Rail that took it close to a basalt quarry he owned.
He was found guilty for failing to disclose his ownership of the quarry and the creation of the map while voting on the Inland Rail during council meetings in 2016, and for making false statements about the matter in an ABC interview.
Cr Antonio tearfully apologised as part of the penalty at the December 2018 meeting.
5. CBD PARKING
IT WAS the number one source of angry letters to the editor – parking in the Toowoomba CBD.
But the issue of parking availability was just a symptom of the growing evolution of the city centre since 2016.
Existing business owners complained that workers and employees were taking parks designated for customers.
The issue came to a head after the council reduced the free CBD centre strip parking to one hour.
Cr James O’Shea introduced guaranteed business parking out of the Neil St bus terminal car park, which was approved.