Sue Brooks' Blog

Sue Brooks April 7th, 2009

How can it be the 7th of April already? My intentions of posting more regularly are rapidly unravelling it seems. Yes I’m still here but moments to catch up with all things non Council are in short supply.

A full agenda tomorrow sees a variety of development decisions to be made some of which are a matter of deciding to assess them under the ‘old’ superseded Planning Scheme for Hervey Bay. Most of these were lodged on the 15th December last year which was the last day to lodge to take advantage of the ‘old’ scheme. Other decisions include multiple units to 6 storeys along the Esplanade at Scarness (recommended approval), a large retail development on Boat Harbour Drive between Beach Rd and Fraser Shores (recommended refusal) and an Industrial Estate in Tiaro (recommend refusal) among others. It is unusual to see recommendations for refusal but if the applicant has not met the criteria within the relevant Planning Scheme then that is the logical outcome. To my mind it is simply a matter of playing within the rules. But these decisions are not final until the Councillors vote tomorrow.

Last week saw meetings almost all day every day with appointments and functions in between. I attended the Matusik presentation at the lunch on Friday which was organised by the Bay Chamber of Commerce and UDIA. The presentation was interesting with many statistics thrown our way. There has been much comment that builders are going broke and that Council must ‘approve’ more things more rapidly. Our current statistics show that there are only 10 or so applications outstanding from this current financial year (July 1st 2008 to now) and I am personally convinced our Planning staff are pumping out decisions at as rapid rate as is humanly possible.

So I think that Council is operating well considering the number of applications it has to deal with and the number of staff that we have to process them. It was also interesting to here Mr Matusik say that over supply is not something that Council should concern itself about as developers should make the decision to develop or not. In other words Council should not be involved in controlling supply which Council does not do anyway. I personally believe that over supply of multiple units has occurred and that the market will now need to adjust. I also believe that there are countless blocks of developed land available to purchasers and that there is no ’shortage’ of housing sites locally. I also believe that building will continue to slow down.

I think we need to remember that many builders moved to Hervey Bay and have done well during our recent boom times but that now we face a period of readjustment. In other words the boom is over and we will return to a steadier rate of development. This will hurt some people but I believe it to be inevitable. The older I get the more of these cycles I witness. How anyone can blame Council for the economic situation we find ourselves in is beyond me nevertheless Council is doing what it can to provide projects that local workers can undertake.

Maybe one day we will see a stable economy that simply sustains itself, with enough work to keep a stable population gainfully employed and earning enough wages or income to lead a happy life. Wouldn’t this be a better system than the boom and bust cycles?

I will report on the result of the Council meeting tomorrow asap. Cheers, Sue

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