September 24, 2012
St John’s Lutheran School expects to hear in December whether its application to purchase a portion of Adermann Park in Kingaroy has been successful.
The school lodged an application with the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP) – the owners of the land – in August.
On July 18, the South Burnett Regional Council voted to provide a letter of support to St John’s to accompany this application.
St John’s hopes to build classrooms on a portion of the land to allow for its new junior secondary (Years 7-9) expansion.
* * *
southburnett.com.au spoke to South Burnett Regional Council officers today in a bid to clear up some confusion – and some readers’ concerns – about the proposed school expansion.
The confusion had arisen from the initial decision at the June 20 Council meeting to lay the matter on the table for “further investigations”. This had been interpreted as “public consultation”.
A description in the Council Minutes describing the letter of support as a “co-application” had also been interpreted as Council involvement in the project.
Council CEO Ken McLoughlin explained today the “investigations” were consultations with the Adermann family – which were undertaken by Cr Damien Tessmann – and checks by council engineers into possible drainage issues on the block.
When these were both completed, the motion for Council to provide a letter of support was retabled at the July 18 meeting and was passed.
|
The concerns raised were allegations that Division 4 councillor Cr Keith Campbell, in whose division the project is located, may have had a conflict of interest in the project because he is Treasurer of St John’s school committee.
This has been refuted.
“I haven’t been privy to any consultations,” Cr Campbell told us. “I haven’t interfered in any way, shape or form.”
Cr Campbell declared an interest in the matter at the June 20 Council meeting and left the meeting before any discussion on the proposal was undertaken. He was absent on sick leave from the July 18 meeting.
He was present during an on-site inspection of the park with other councillors but only to satisfy himself as to the actual parcel of land under discussion.
This was confirmed today by council’s General Manager Planning & Environment Stan Taylor who said the inspection only consisted of a discussion about the boundaries of the land.
Mr Taylor said it was he, not Cr Campbell, who had then consulted with St John’s on how the matter could proceed.
Mr McLoughlin said he had no evidence that Cr Campbell hadn’t acted appropriately at all times in the matter.
* * *
The South Burnett Regional Council is now “out of the loop” on the proposal until, or if, the school does purchase the land from the State Government and then lodges a “code assessable” application with Council.
The proposed development would then be assessed by Council officers for compliance with any applicable codes in the planning scheme.
It was at this stage that residents’ concerns about issues such as traffic or the maintenance of trees on the block could be addressed.
Mr Taylor said the land would not require rezoning as the new use was not inconsistent with its current zoning as “community use”.
But council could set conditions about public access, car parking spaces etc.
However before any of this would happen, DEHP would have to approve the sale of the land and St John’s would have to lodge an application with Council.
[Disclosure: Cr Campbell is a past client of the author]
Related articles:
