Having witnessed the act of devastation in Broulee that passes as progress and development, the only development that I can envisage exists in the bank accounts of the "developers". All we will see is postage stamp size blocks to cram as many as possible onto the available land and bugger any hint of green space. This is purely and simply a money grabbing enterprise in which both the land owners and the Eurobodalla Council are complicit. People move to this part of the coast to get away from suburbia, and now find that suburbia is not only catching up with them but is completely stuffing their expectations of what they anticipated they had to look forward to.
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Alex and Sue Wallensky, Broulee
This week a parcel of land at the top of Clarke Street in Broulee was decimated by developers who have council permission to build houses. What they did not have permission to do was clear a triangle of designated community land and yet due to deceit or incompetence they cleared into it, destroying mature trees. I want to know whether they were given permission to do this by the council, in which case a private company stands to benefit from community land. I want to know who gave this permission and on what grounds? I want the developer to remove the fence around this land and reinstate the boundary, replanting the area that was cleared. This is a community disaster. We need to work with the land, not against it. Someone should be accountable for this. It smacks of profit and greed above the needs of the community, wildlife and environment. We need to stand up to this before the whole Eurobodalla coast is destroyed.
Jill Smith, Broulee
When the entry to one of NSW South Coast's most iconic beaches is clear-felled, with the community blindsided, something is wrong.
An urgent Motion put to Council last Tuesday to raise community concerns, did get a response: but too little, too late. Something is wrong if this is contemporary urban design; clear-felling to replace Bangalay Sand Forest with colourbond fencing.
And to add insult to injury a recent effort by Council to sell a parcel of land alongside the development site was stopped when the Broulee Mossy Point Community Association reminded Council that the land was zoned community. How did council miss this? Unfortunately that community parcel is now ringfenced, which locks out the public from its own land. The unformed road that was to be incorporated into the community block has now also been mostly cleared.
Where was the community engagement?
We all need a home, but how we design our neighbourhoods is significant. We need parks, bike paths, shade trees and walkways. We need much better urban design in a post-fire, climate challenged world. And we need much better community consultation.
A local summarised the feelings when they shared that, "there is a mix of great anger, deep disappointment and hurt at the action by Council which will impact the relationship between Council and the community for the future".