At the September General Meeting, Cr Helen Murray moved a motion not to adopt the Cleveland CBD Masterplan and to engage what she termed as experts to investigate the effect of this plan on the urban koala. There have been numerous opportunities for councillors to request the input of the “experts” over the previous two and half years and I argued that point strongly in the debate. This motion was supported by Cr Murray, Cr Reimers and Cr Toni Bowler.
PROPOSED MOTION
Moved by: Cr Murray
Seconded by: Cr Reimers
1. That Council resolves not to adopt the Cleveland Centre Master Plan & Implementation Plan 2010.
2. That Council resolves to engage the following persons or their representatives to give their considered opinion on the future viability of urban koalas in the Cleveland area as a result of Council adopting the plan as proposed:
Dr Frank Carrick UQ
Ms Diedre de Villiers UQ
Mrs Deborah Tabart AKF
Mrs Debbie Pointing KAG
Mr Simon Baltais WPS
3. That the future of the Cleveland Master Plan be based on the best outcome and viability of the urban koalas in the Redlands
This motion was lost and following further debate the masterplan was finally adopted.
MASTERPLAN AMENDMENTS
This plan was due to be adopted in early 2008 but was rejected by Melva and many of her “new team of councillors”. I did not support further delays to this process. However. it was sent back to the drawing board for further consultation, workshops and consideration at the request of a majority of Councillors. Councillors asked for a number of issues to be addressed including the ability for koalas to transverse the CBD area.
IMPACTS IN BUSINESS
The community and business people of Cleveland need certainty to move forward and survive. The Cleveland CBD in particular has visible signs of struggle and needs an injection of strong vision which only Council can provide with input from the community. In the debate, I encouraged people to have a walk around the Cleveland CBD and maybe count the number of For Lease/For Sale signs that now exist. It was argued back at me, clearly these businesses are also responsible for their own fate. However, in the cycle of business turnover, astute investors are not filling these vacancies. Why? The cost of doing business in Redlands is no longer attractive, perhaps the risks currently outweigh potential return and Commercial premises copped an 18% increase in rates this year with no further investment in Economic Development for the City. These are considerations that business owners weigh up in making decisions to relocate or to start up/expand.
The efficiency and timeliness of Council's decision making impacts all residents. In this instance, Melva and a majority of councillors did not like the outcome of community engagement in 2007. After further consultation the amended plan has now been delivered which some Councillors are still not happy with. Nearly four years to deliver a high level visionary document is simply not good enough. Council must understand that time means money for private enterprise and the cost of not doing so is often passed on to the general public.
