His family of 12 farmed the area until the 1950s. Photo www.trip.com
A Byron Shire Council (BSC) request for public feedback on a proposed lease of public land, part of a road reserve, to the owner of 27 Marine Parade, Wategos, was frustrated by a lack of information supplied to the public by BSC.
The BSC website stated, ‘We are proposing a lease over the road reserve (118,9sqm,) to a private landowner for structural encroachments’ with no further information on the lease.
The property has been listed for $75 million by Sothebys Real Estate, is listed on Airbnb to rent at $71,397 a week, and according to The Sydney Morning Herald is currently owned by ‘planning and environmental lawyer Scott Stewart, a partner at AJ&Co Lawyers’.
Council staff were asked whether there was an agenda report on the potential lease or whether there was any further information on the proposal. Locals were told they would need a GIPA (Freedom of Information request) to get answers.
Only temporary structures allowed
According to public documents, Condition 7 of the 2014 development application (DA) for the site required approval of the road reserve works prior to a construction certificate being approved by BSC. It also noted that a lease may be needed under the Roads Act. Previous similar DAs include a condition for a lease.
According to the Roads Act s157(3) ‘Such a consent may not be given unless the roads authority is satisfied that the proposed structure comprises a fence or a temporary structure of a kind that can easily be demolished or removed.’
The encroachment on approximately 6m x 20m of public land includes stairs to access the property, retaining walls that enclose the public land, and landscaping.
A 2011 road reserve lease for 29 Marine Parade was ‘for a maximum term of five years’, ‘based on market rent’, with ‘annual rent reviews’.
On this basis a five-year lease to the landholder of 27 Marine Parade with the lease fee set to match the Valuer General’s value in the vicinity (about $27,700/square metre) offset over 20 years, would set an annual rent of $165,000 plus CPI.
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