JAMBEROO JOY

Members of the JRoo Forum are likely to be celebrating today after Kiama council was last night set to reject the DA for a proposed large scale aged care facility in Jamberoo.

Last nights debate comes on the back of Mondays sometimes heated public access meeting in which over 60 people attended and Crighton Properties Managing Director Geoff Cox received an official warning from Kiama Mayor Sandra McCarthy as he spoke to the councillors.

Mr Cox was upset that council is likely to reject his proposal without taking up his offer to visit his similar facility in Tea Gardens near Newcastle or taking the time to speak to the developer.

Echoing the thoughts of Mr Cox was Kiama Councillor Warren Steel who last night was considering calling for a motion of deferment on the issue while conceding it was inevitable the DA would be rejected.

It is basically impossible for councillors to vote for it in its present state, Cr Steel said.

My basic concerns are that if anyone came to your town and said they wanted to spend $65 million wouldnt you at least take notice.

What the developer is saying is that that council has refused to sit around the round table and negotiate, which is frustrating for him.

Personally I feel that there is a real need for aged care facilitys however I feel that this one is too large and not on the right site.

By sitting down and chatting with this man we may be able to get a smaller retirement village on a better site.

In a report tabled before the councillors at last nights meeting it was found the scale and layout of the proposed project would detract from the scenic and cultural value of the town and valley.

The report also found that the proposed development was contrary to public interest and had not demonstrated that necessary support and care services would be available to residents of the facility.

Speaking before last nights meeting, JRoo Forum spokesman Mark McLaren said council had done an excellent job in preparing the report.

The thoroughness of the assessment conducted by the environment department should be applauded, he said.

In many ways we are delighted with what has been found as it bears out what we have been saying for the past 18 months.

Council sought to make sure the whole application was transparent and followed due process in making sure all parties had a chance to express their view.

There were 413 submissions lodged in relation to the development application with 340 of them speaking against the proposal making it obvious as to where the community support lay.

Mayor Sandra McCarthy said although The Crightons application was expected to be rejected she did not expect the decision to deter others from lodging DAs for aged care facilities within the municipality.

This proposal has failed to comply with a significant number of requirements.

Basically the scale of the proposal was inappropriate, she said.

We have an ageing population and I think there will be other proposals for an aged care facility but the senior living policy has some extremely strict criteria to be met.

The original application for a large scale aged care facility at the intersection of Jamberoo-Albion Park and Jamberoo Mountain Road was lodged by Crighton Properties in December 2005 at which time it was formally rejected with council finding the sewerage and water plan deficient.

The developer took the case to the Land and Environment court and successfully appealed the decision meaning council had to determine the application.