29 June 2023
SUNDAY- Please come along for Film, Music and Food
We are proud to be partnering with Crunchtime- a youth founded organisation committed to sharing skills and making connections to empower young people. https://crunchtimeaus.org/
As they tour the South Coast they will be teaming up with Dalmeny Matters and similar community groups from Tuross to Manyana to Culburra Beach to highlight the fact that inappropriate, destructive development is threatening communities across coastal NSW.
We are so excited that Crunchtime will be helping us to connect with more young people and bring fresh faces to our campaign.
Sunday July 2
Crunch Time Screening- 20 minute short film
Free Food, Live Music, Facepainting- kids welcome
Narooma Surf Club
3 :30- 5 :30 pm
Community Q&A with the filmmakers about what inspired the film, and how to be a change maker in the community
On Monday young people are invited to a Youth Empowerment Session- run by Crunch Time.
Please spread the word!
July 3 YES (Youth Empowerment Session) Dalmeny Community Hall 2: 30 pm- 5: 30 pm
Petitions to the Leg. Council
Last Sunday at the Rotary Markets we made a great start collecting signatures. You will have a chance to sign at our Crunchtime event this Sunday, and at future markets and meetings.
We are coordinating with other groups along the coast, with a petition for each area, which will all be tabled at once to the Legislative Council, highlighting this as a statewide issue.
Our petition calls for amendments to legislation to protect coastal communities from urban sprawl, especially into bushfire prone land and threatened species habitat; a review of R2- low density zoned land; and protection for our bushland here in Dalmeny.
If you feel that you could collect signatures from friends or colleagues please contact us for a copy.
What’s Going on at Council?
We asked for an update, considering the 6 months of silence! We also asked whether they could share what was causing the delay.
Response:
“Not much has changed in terms of an update, hence the silence. We are still working on technical studies to inform a concept masterplan. When we have all the information available we will be back in Dalmeny to share it with the community and seek feedback. I am expecting this to take place in a few months. Some key factors in delays is that we are a small team with lots of projects to deliver for the community, and the availability of technical specialists.”
We can see from documents obtained via a GIPA, that Council does not seem to have made progress since June 2022.
You might be interested in this map created by Council, showing areas in pink- are these the sections considered ‘developable’?
A dog’s breakfast indeed: creek lines, steep sections, hollow trees, habitat corridors, bushfire asset protection zones, and the 3 owners inevitably wanting maximum development on their properties.
In internal communications they refer to the 3 Lots as Duesbury’s, Eucalyptus and Tatiara, perhaps giving a clue as to intended access roads.
Housing Concerns- We asked Shelter NSW
Shelter NSW is the peak body working in housing policy and advocacy. They have recently been consulting with ESC about their Housing Strategy.
We asked for their stance on developments like the one we are facing and that are springing up along the coast.
For the full response please contact us- highlights below:
“Is it likely that this development would have an effect on local house prices or make local housing any more affordable?”
Again, without knowing the specifics of this site and the development, we are generally of the view that the most efficient and most direct way to alleviate housing stress for low-income households is through restoring social housing stock levels to 5% of all dwelling stock in each LGA, with 10% of all housing stock being social housing by 2040 at a region-wide level (noting that social housing stock as a percentage of all housing in the Eurobodalla LGA is approximately 2.3%).
These are not fantastical or unrealistic percentages; in Australia up until a decade or so ago, 5% of housing as social housing was the norm (Pawson, Milligan, & Yates, 2020). Our advocacy in the 5-10% range would put the NSW jurisdiction below the average of other OECD jurisdictions (OECD, 2022, [Title] (oecd.org)). A bigger pool of social housing stock also frees up more private rental properties for other low-income earners who may not otherwise qualify for public housing.
“Would building more freestanding, family homes do anything to help with the issues we have here of homelessness, locals being priced out of the market, and lack of rentals?”
We note that the Eurobodalla Shire has a significant whole-home holiday letting market which perhaps is more pressing than any other factors impacting on housing stress in the locality. Please see attached pdf for data on whole-home holiday accommodation versus rental availability and affordability for Eurobodalla, Bega, and Shoalhaven LGAs.
In short, no matter the DA or rezoning approval rates for new subdivisions and dwellings, developers will never ‘flood’ the market with housing or subdivisions in a way that would materially suppress land and property prices (as it is simply not in their business interests to do so).
“Does Shelter NSW have a position on housing developments such as the one we are dealing with here, and which are proposed for many other coastal towns at this time”
. We recently made a submission on Wollongong City Council’s Local Housing Strategy (2022) and these recommendations to Council may be of interest to you:
Review viability of certain land zone typologies e.g. R2 land to further the objectives of infill and mixed use development and adhering to Urban Growth Boundaries
Establish consistent criteria and application of Urban Growth Boundaries for the LGA. Application of such Boundaries shall also include ‘last-resort’ criteria on how and why these Boundaries can be encroached
Adopt firm and trackable non detached “dwelling house” targets in Urban Release Area plans.
“Are there things that Council could realistically do to make this development more likely to include affordable housing or rental housing?”
Your original email seemed to indicate that the housing development is to occur on land sold by Council to a private developer. At the time of sale, a caveat could have potentially been placed on the land title requiring x amount of lot/housing yield to be dedicated Affordable Rental Housing or the like. It might be worthwhile to enquire with Council if any such conditions were placed on the title or in the sale contract to the private developer.
Otherwise, at the rezoning and/or DA stage, Council could require x amount of dwellings be dedicated as Affordable Rental Housing through a Voluntary Planning Agreement. As far as I can see, Eurobodalla Shire Council does not have an Affordable Housing Contributions Scheme set up, but they may still be able to negotiate DA-by-DA Affordable Housing outcomes for significant sites. In the longer term, the Local Housing Strategy should set the stage for if/when/how an Affordable Housing Contributions Scheme will work. Refer to attached pdf for more details.
Fundraiser Raffle- Handmade for Habitat
Tickets are available on Sunday and at our Rotary Market stall, or feel free to contact us.
Local artists have donated 6 beautiful prizes, including a bird and native flower themed quilt, an original oil showing native rainforest, a bespoke hat from milliner HatSavvy and cross-stitch of native birds and Sturt’s Desert Peas. To be drawn 1 August.