Councillors have deferred making a final decision about the future of a proposed 11-lot large-lot residential subdivision in Gulmarrad, “to allow staff to provide draft conditions for approval”.

Councillors, apart from councillors Deborah Novak and Greg Clancy, supported Cr Richie Williamson’s motion to defer their decision, noting that that Clarence Valley Council (CVC) accepts “the existing vegetation clearing footprint … as submitted by the application and … [that] the offsets would be calculated off this clearing footprint”, as tabled at the meeting.

Councillors also acknowledged “for safety, that the speed limit on McIntyres Lane will need to be reduced and that the applicant would need to forward this to the Traffic Committee for review, or [provide] an alternate intersection treatment … that meets site distance safety concerns on the present speed limits”.

Councillors also agreed to “accept that enough stormwater studies have been done” and expect that when the item returns to the September CVC meeting, staff will have “conditioned” their development application recommendation “as per the recent information”.

Councillor Williamson confirmed that this means staff will assess each of the submitted documents, some of which have conflicting views, when they propose the conditions.

On each occasion this has been before council, staff have recommended refusal.

A decision on the DA was also deferred at the June CVC meeting, at which councillors decided, among other issues, that an “assessment of the suitability for purpose of the new flood information/study … provided by the applicant” was required.

This was provided, however, staff advised councillors when addressing a raft of objections from the adjoining landholder, that “it is preferable for a deed of agreement, between the Applicant and adjoining landowner, to be negotiated prior to approval of a Development Application [so as] to gain certainty for the development”.