A Ballina Shire councillor wants the council to reject a proposal to build an Olympic sports training facility at the Lake Ainsworth Sport and Recreation Camp.
Cr Phillip Meehan has lodged a notice of motion for Thursday’s council meeting calling for the abandonment of the proposal.
He maintains that the proposed development, which would include ski jump ramps and a pool, would be in conflict with the environmental protection zoning of the area.
Cr Meehan also says that the proposal would have an unacceptable visual impact on the coastal landscape of Lennox Head, Lake Ainsworth and Seven Mile Beach.
‘The height (44 metres AHD) of the proposed ski jump structure is more than twice as high as any permissible building structure in Ballina Shire,’ he said in his motion.
‘For example The Ramada Hotel and other like buildings. It is approximately seven times higher than the stated maximum building height (6.4 metres) within the applicable land zone provisions and five times higher than the allowed building height in Lennox Head (8.5 meters).’
Cr Meehan said the proposed ski jump development was not in the public interest.
‘The community of Lennox Head and other Ballina Shire residents are clearly demonstrating their majority opposition to the proposed ski jump development,’ he said.
‘This is occurring through numerous submissions to council addressing the DA exhibition, public protest meetings of many hundreds of people, media representations by individuals and extensive social media communication.
‘There is clearly a great deal of concern within the community about the detrimental visual impact of the ski jump structure on the coastal landscape.’ The application is a State Government proposal that is to be determined by the Joint Regional Planning Panel.
Cr Meehan wants the council to make submissions against the proposal to both the state government and the planning panel.
Bring it to Lismore
Meanwhile, Page MP Kevin Hogan has said if Lennox Head doesn’t want the ski jump, Lismore would have it.
‘This jump will be the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and would be great for Australian skiers, and more importantly the local economy and jobs,’ he said.
‘This international Olympic facility will attract elite athletes from around the world to do their training.’
These developers misunderstand climate change. It is getting warmer. There is little hope of any snow in Lennox Head and it seems only reasonable that ski jumpers need snow.