Carine residents happy with JDAP ruling to delay decision on $40m development

CARINE residents had a small win on Monday after a Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) postponed a decision on the future of a $40 million aged care development .

JDAP members supported a motion put forward by panel members Councillor David Boothman and Mayor Giovanni Italiano to delay the decision and re-examine options to achieve a better outcome for residents.

Members from the Carine Action Group, opposed to the development on Silica Road presented their case at the JDAP, along with Carine MLA Tony Krsticevic, representatives from Opal Aged care and planner Roberts Day.

Carine Action Group spokesman Lindsay Broadhurst said the group were not opposed to the overall development but to the significant loss of tree canopy from the area because of smaller setbacks granted to the development as well as an increase in the number of beds in the facility.

“The key issue for the community was to retain a vegetation buffer on Silica Road and retain the trees,” he said .

Carine resident David Goulding said he was surprised the council’s JDAP members backed residents after a “confusing and misleading” consultation process.

“The bit I can’t understand is we’ve got the Mayor and one of the councillors on the panel going in to bat for residents, but when we were at the council meeting there didn’t seem to be a lot of concern there…it didn’t seem like they were on side,” he said.

“One minute we have a meeting like that and the next minute they’re asking them to go back and rethink it.”

The Carine Action Group held up a protest banner at a Stirling council meeting in July and were ejected from the meeting shortly after.

Resident Jan Hooker addressed the panel and said her street “epitomised the word community”.

“That kind of friendship is rarely found on urban streets, the long term owners worlds’ were thrown into disarray when these plans were released,” she said.

“City of Stirling correspondence with the residents was missing in action; there was a total lack of information.”

Cr Boothman said he understood the concerns of residents and questioned why some residents were supposedly not notified.

Stirling approvals manager Greg Bowering said the plan was advertised on site with signs and letters were posted.

Cr Andrew Guilfoyle attended the JDAP in support of the residents and suggested larger setbacks should be required for private institutions.

“The residents are spot on in their thinking; these are valid, intelligent questions asked by the residents.”

Ms Hooker said despite recent high profile tree-planting initiatives the City had agreed to the plans for the removal of trees along Silica Road.

Mr Goulding said he and other residents found the JDAP process confusing.

“I thought it was going to be approved irrespective of the concerns of the residents,” he said.

“It’s going to make the developer think about what they can do to help the residents.

“I think this JDAP process is flawed in many ways, many people in the community found it a difficult process to understand even to get your head around all the acronyms used in this process.”

The JDAP panel will reconvene in one month.