Eurobodalla Shire Council has finally released information about the sale of public land in Dalmeny under a GIPA application by the group, Dalmeny Matters.
A member of the Dalmeny Matters group told The Beagle "The documentation shows that Council staff have withheld vital information from Councillors and the Community alike.
"The information accessed includes the Valuation Report for the 40 + Ha parcel sold by ESC to a Sydney Development Company in 2021.
"In this report it is revealed that ESC originally considered selling the land with a 20m wide buffer between existing houses and the development area. This land would have been excluded from sale, remain native vegetation and be rezoned for public open space. However this option was mysteriously not presented to Councillors when they voted to sell the land".
"This buffer may have made a significant difference to Dalmeny residents living adjacent to the Land Release Area, who currently face a future where their bush backdrop is replaced by a massive noisy construction site alike to that currently experienced by Broulee locals.
Dalmeny Matters say "The Valuation Report is prefaced by a recommendation that ESC seek a review of the price due to the significant uncertainty of the market (covid pandemic).
"A Valuation review did not happen and this fact was also not communicated to Councillors at the time, who therefore voted to sell the land unaware of the risks involved.
"In email correspondence between Council staff and the Real Estate agent selling the land, ESC instructs the estate agent not to 'scare the community' by mentioning how many lots the land may potentially yield.
“The section ‘into approximately 300-350 allotments’ concerns us as we don’t want to scare the rest of the community” .
Dalmeny Matters say that this estimate is for part of the land release only- with another 70 Ha also proposed for clearing and development.
"Emails also reveal that ESC accepted the offer from Heppa Constructions, despite it not being the highest, because unlike other offers they did not ask for a due diligence period or make an offer dependent on DA approval. What does this say about this company?"
"There is no publicly available information on Heppa Constructions aside from the fact that it was formed in 2019- no past projects, no company website, nothing.
Dalmeny Matters ask "Did Council perform any checks on this company before accepting the offer?"
Dalmeny Matters have been arguing the need for more genuine community consultation on this development proposal and are still awaiting a response from ESC.
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