The Coastal Management Plan for Narooma / Dalmeny is now being developed.
There are building concerns that this plan is being developed under the guise of a Flood Management Plan, even though these settlements are right in the Coastal Zone. Concurrently the Shoalhaven Council is also launching their CMP for the Shoalhaven River, St Georges Basin and Lake Conjola.
In 2016, Eurobodalla Council prepared a flood study for the Narooma and Dalmeny areas. From this study they learned some parts of Narooma are more prone to flooding than others. These areas included homes, businesses and essential transport routes.
Image: the three study areas source
Eurobodalla Coast Alliance are of the opinion that this is "bad news for the residents of these low lying areas" and offer the following statement:.
COASTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN AND HOW IT AFFECTS YOUR PROPERTY
Under the new Act, all land in the Coastal Zone must be identified as coastal forest, wetland, general use areas, or a coastal vulnerability areas.
It is the coastal vulnerability label that will destroy the value and saleability of in low lying residential areas. This includes areas on the coast and up to a kilometre inland and up rivers, estuaries etc. Under the Act, once land is classified in one or more of the coastal zone land groups, a management program (CMP) must be prepared. In the case of coastal vulnerability areas that CMP will offer “RETREAT” or “ADAPTATION”as the long term management options.
Once the land is identified as vulnerable in stage one of the CMP study insurance rates will go through the roof. In the Eurobodalla we have examples of rates rising to $30,000 pa for $400,000 properties. $16,000 in Narooma. Financial institutions require borrowers to fully insure mortgaged properties. As these insurance rates become prohibitive it will become impossible to sell these properties to other than cash buyers.
If the RETREAT option is then adopted, vulnerable property owners will face development restrictions of the kind Surfside owners have already experienced. To get a DA in a vulnerable area you will have to agree to restrictive covenants on your title. In Surfside, if a property is affected by four tides in any one year the owner must demolish the house and return the land to its original condition, at their own expense, with no compensation. Other forms of time limited development may be considered.
Whichever way it goes, owners of vulnerable properties will have depreciating assets on their hands.
Rosemary Deadman, Vice President of the Eurobodalla Coast Alliance told the Beagle "The Eurobodalla Coast Alliance is the local branch of the NSW Coastal Alliance and has been fighting this for quite some time but we can’t do it alone."
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