Minutes for the Berry Forum Committee Meeting
At the Uniting Church on March 19 2018 at 10.15am.

Present: David Carter (Chair), Stuart Coughlan, John Cullity, David Brawn, Garry Broadbridge, Gail Paton, John Underwood, James Robinson, Laurie Watson, Mary Beare, Margot Claringbold
Apologies: Marilyn Kellett

Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 5 February: Approved

Actions arising from the Minutes
. Budget funding for Apex Park toilets replacement- ongoing
. Footpath for Alexandra St –ongoing
– Stuart to ask Paul Keech if Council will include in District Park funding
– Margot to obtain costing from Council and Ken Hutt
. John C to ask associate, who is a lawyer, to discuss Incorporation at next meeting 

Review of 15 Feb Forum meeting
Correspondence and confirm Minutes – at beginning of the meeting
Voting to include recording of votes, both for and against.

Berry District Park- Update
Children’s Consultation on Sunday 25 March at 10-12pm, including a display of designs.
Once consultation with kids is completed, Council will move into detailed design.

Planning & Development
Stuart met with Phil Costello to discuss three topics –

  • Tourist & visitor accommodation – loopholes in the LEP were identified and simple solutions proposed to address the issues.
  • Bangalee Motel –a public meeting was requested based on the level of public interest
  • Huntingdale Park – the upcoming S96 amendment was discussed.
  • Subsequent to the meeting, Phil advised that he was prepared to attend the next Forum meeting to discuss how Council is assessing the Bangalee and Huntingdale applications.

Discussion with Mark Cornish re legal letters
Mark Cornish wished to clarify recent correspondence, and stressed he was not lodging a complaint against the Committee. However, he felt there had been a negative response and wanted to know if there was something offensive in his lawyer’s letters. Mark felt the CCB Guidelines were insufficiently detailed in some areas and hoped the revised Guidelines would provide more clarity to CCBs as to their role within the community. He also felt the Committee had not complied with procedural Guidelines and mentioned two examples –

  1. A copy of the minutes of Forum meetings had not been forwarded to Council
  2. A submission from the Committee on the draft ‘Proposal to Expand Complying Development to include two-storey medium density housing types under SEPP 2008’ was not presented to the Forum in March 2016.

The Committee’s response on these two matters is as follows –

  1. When the Forum was established in June 2015, Council was informed that the minutes of all Forum and Committee meetings would be available on the Forum website. When Council requested electronic copies in February this year, they were provided.
  2. The Huskisson CCB Committee emailed the Forum on 15 Feb 2016 advising that they were alarmed by the NSW Government’s proposed expansion of complying development. They attached their submission and encouraged us to also consider making a submission before the closing date on 1 March 2016. Based on our assessment that the Proposal would result in councils being bypassed in the consultation and decision making process, we chose to make a submission. However, it was not possible for the Committee to consult with the Forum as the Forum meetings occurred on 15 February and 14 April.

Council Matters

  • CCB Guidelines Review – Council will issue a draft of proposed revisions shortly.
  • Weeds along northern entrance to town – Council have been asked to address the lack of road verge maintenance. However, there is confusion between Council and RMS as to who has responsibility.

Chamber of Commerce request
The Committee has been asked to communicate a request from the Chamber’s President about Berry Merry Christmas. The Chamber believes it is no longer a business event and should be managed by a community group.

Other Business

  • Work on the Croziers Road intersection will commence on Wednesday 21 March.
  • We will continue to follow-up with Gareth Ward re RMS’s response on Windsor Drive noise and visual impacts from the Bypass.
  • There will be a presentation by Jim Jefferis of Landcare at the April Forum meeting.
  • Residents have asked the Committee to address an anomaly with the 60 kph speed limit sign between Kangaroo Valley Road off-ramp and the Huntingdale roundabout; this is a 50 kph zone. Stuart has raised the issue at Traffic Committee.
  • There will be a presentation on the Stationmasters residence at the June Forum meeting.

Next Committee meetings –9 April, 23 April
Next Forum meetings – 19 April, 14 June, 16 August ??