At the eleventh hour, Ballina Shire Council has voted to press pause on the controversial Sharpes Beach car park redevelopment, and seek further options.
Cr Phil Meehan’s motion to accept the proposed redevelopment concept plan, seconded eventually by Mayor Sharon Cadwallader, didn’t find the support expected from other councillors. The plan has already been exhibited, with a wide range of views from the public documented, many hostile to the proposed changes to the existing car park, which is currently unsealed and lacks toilet facilities.
Cr Meehan said 50 per cent of respondents were in favour of the new plan, with those opposed concerned with the loss of Norfolk Island pines, as well as the proposed car parking numbers and arrangements.
He argued that the concept master plan developed by Ballina Council was ‘sympathetic to the coastal environment’ and to ‘people’s vision’ of the area, with the need to approve the design in the near future, in order to access government grant monies so that construction could begin in 2025.
Cr Bruem said he was concerned about the number of Norfolk Island pines that would need to be removed (nine altogether).
Staff member Matt Wood reminded councillors the pines were introduced, limited the number of car spaces, and were prone to damaging pavements, despite their iconic associations with the area, which is why the plan was designed to remove ‘the absolute minimum’ number of trees.
Cr Simon Chate asked if there were any offsets planned for the removed trees. ‘The intent is yes,’ said Matt Wood.
He explained that disability access to the actual beach was not part of the current plan, although there would be accessible viewing access and toilets.
Traffic flow
There was then a discussion about traffic flow, with various councillors expressing opinions that the designers might have got this wrong.
Staff explained that it was not too late for the plan to be adjusted, but that parking spaces would be lost if more Norfolk Pines were retained, or if the traffic flow was modified. They reiterated that the Stewart family (owners of part of the site) had been consulted throughout the process.
Cr Eva Ramsey said that the Stewarts she had spoken to were ‘really upset’, although they were ‘going along with it’, with Peter Stewart having planted some of the pines in question many years ago.
‘I just urge that we go back and we look at it, we save more Norfolk pines, and we make that car park much safer for everyone.’
Council staff reiterated that the new Sharpes Beach car park design was designed with safety and ideal traffic circulation in mind.
Cr Eoin Johnston said he could ‘understand why there wasn’t a rush to second this motion’ before saying he could also see why parking in the area needed to be formally organised, considering all the new residents moving to the area and the existing situation of ‘organised chaos’.
He said he understood why some of the existing trees would have to go.
Other options?
Cr Kiri Dicker said she was ‘with Team Ramsey on this’ and wasn’t convinced that the current plan for Sharpes Beach had got it right.
‘I would like some other options to consider,’ she said. ‘There’s no need to create false urgency – we’ve still got over a year to get this done. Let’s get it right the first time.’
Cr Ramsey then questioned the provisions made for lifesavers. Matt Wood said the lifesavers’ requests had already been incorporated into the plan.
Mayor Cadwallader then said she would speak in favour of the motion to approve, because the exhibition process had closed and everyone agreed it was important to get toilets built, with the exact traffic arrangements to be refined later if necessary.
Cr Rod Bruem then waxed lyrically about the Norfolk Island pines, and quoted Joni Mitchell, as evidence he was not part of a ‘Cadwallader voting bloc’.
After more discussion, Cr Phil Meehan said his fellow councillors ‘should have had this discussion a number of months ago’, when the proposal first came before them.
He said 60 public negative responses from a population of 45,000 were not significant, and that the Norfolk Island pines were technically weeds in any case.
Cr Meehan suggested an amendment to get to work on the new toilet block and retain the existing car park, but this idea found no support.
After more circular argument, Crs Kiri Dicker and Eva Ramsey proposed that the matter be deferred, pending a report on further options.
With Cr Jeff Johnson not present, the only councillors to vote against this were Eoin Johnston and Phil Meehan, and so the Sharpes Beach car park returned to the drawing board, for now.
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