Council Decides: Extraordinary March Meeting

Published on 26 March 2025

Welcome to our March Extraordinary issue of “Council Decides” where we update you on the decisions and discussions of Lismore City Council’s monthly Council meeting.

The business papers and attachments for the meeting can be found here.

PUBLIC ACCESS

Nine people spoke on nine topics during Public Access

• One speaker spoke in favour of the residential subdivision
• One person spoke in favour of the lease to Lismore Old Boys Rugby League Football Club
• One person spoke in favour of the Assignment to the lease for Nimbin Caravan Park
• Two people spoke against the proposal to disband Advisory Groups
• One person spoke in favour of the Richmond River Historical Society remaining in the old Municipal Building in Molesworth Street
• One person spoke in favour of the Revolve Shop accepting cash
• One person spoke in favour of replacing the guideposts on Wyrallah Road
• One person spoke in against disbanding the Advisory Groups, in favour of Council-owned land at North Lismore Plateau to traditional owners and in favour of an Aboriginal Back Alley Gallery

MATTERS ARISING

Councillors resolved to:

• adopt Councillors Expenses & Facilities Policy contained within the Business Papers
• noted Questions on Notice contained within the Business Papers

REPORTS OF THE GENERAL MANAGER

Councillors resolved to:

• grant consent to Development Consent to DA24/131 Residential Subdivision - 176 Lots plus 3 Public Reserves, subject to the recommended conditions of consent
• place on exhibition the Investment Policy for 28 days and receive submissions from the public, and if any objections are received during the submission period the Policy be reported back to Council for further consideration. If no objections are received during the submission period, the Investment Policy is adopted by Council
• grant an easement, over the airspace above Larkin Lane (being the stratum denoted to the adjoining landowner of 65 Woodlark Street, Lismore, 69 Woodlark Street, Lismore and 29 Larkin Lane, Lismore, to permit the encroaching structure to remain, and delegate the General Manager to negotiate the terms of the easement and the sale price in accordance with a valuation prepared by a registered valuer
• (1) Amend the Flood Risk Management Committee’s Terms of Reference as follows (a) Clause 5 – membership of the Committee be amended to include ‘up to 8’ instead of 6 community members, with ‘3 other community members (not geography specific) instead of 1, (b) Clause 5 – Advisory member Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation be amended to NSW Reconstruction Authority, (c) the ‘1 technical specialist from Southern Cross University’ is removed, and (2) invite the following community members to join Council’s Flood Risk Management Committee:

1. Colin Baker as the North Lismore representative
2. Graham Askey as the South Lismore representative
3. Alexander Rubin, Demi Flynn and Bradley Herd as the non-geographically specific representatives
4. Mark Tirris as the First Nations representative
5. Michael Ackrell as the business owner representative
6. William Moorhouse as the environmental group representative

• support granting a lease to Lismore Old Boys Rugby League Football Club Incorporated for a term of 5 years with a further option for an additional 5 years with an annual rental of $1.00 and, to enable Council to facilitate the granting of a lease to Lismore Old Boys Rugby League Football Club Incorporated
• consent to the assignment of registered lease AG448854 for Nimbin Caravan Park from the current lessee, the late Peter John Mann and Christine Violet Seymour to Truffle Dog, delegate authority to the General Manager to negotiate the terms of the Deed of Consent and Assignment of registered lease, and supports consideration of subdividing the land (Lot 6 in DP1248506) into two separate lots, the Caravan Park Area and the Public Pool Complex and Recreational Area
• receive and note the February 2025 Investments Report
• disband the Nimbin Advisory Group and the Koala Implementation Group, establish the Koala Advisory Group and the Lismore Villages Advisory Group, withdraw all Terms of Reference documents relating to Council’s advisory groups and the Draft LCC Advisory Groups – Terms of Reference documents be adopted in final form, appoint Councillors to positions on Council’s advisory groups, and seek Expressions of Interest to fill representative positions on Council’s advisory groups to be reported to the June Council meeting
• appoint Cr Battista as Chair of the Sister City Advisory Committee, Cr Bing as Deputy, and Mayor Krieg as a member, appoint Cr Rob as Chair of the Disability and Inclusion Advisory Group, Cr Waters as Deputy with Crs Dalton-Earls, Krieg and Battista as members, appoint Cr Dalton-Earls as Chair of the Aboriginal Advisory Group, Cr Knight-Smith as Deputy, with Crs Krieg, Hall, Rob and Waters as members, appoint Cr Waters as Chair of the Villages Advisory Group and Cr Rob as Deputy, with Crs Jensen, Dalton-Earls, Hall and Battista and Knight-Smith as members, appoint Cr Krieg as Chair of the Koala Advisory Group and Cr Jensen as Deputy, and Crs Rob, Bing and Waters as members
• suspend all activity in relation to point 1 of item 49/24 (the handover of Council-owned land at North Lismore Plateau to the traditional owners) until further notice, action points 2,3, and 4 of item 49/24 before commencing activity in relation to point 1, this be undertaken as a matter of urgency.
• receive and note Councillors Expenses and Facilities Policy - July 2024 to December 2024

NOTICE OF MOTION

Councillors resolved to:

• write to the NSW Police Commissioner and Richmond Police District highlighting safety concerns from CBD businesses and requesting a blitz, send a copy of the correspondence to Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin and Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan, include in the next budget an agreed amount of funding exclusively designed to increase safety in the CBD and surrounding policing areas and seek grant funding, and request police look at community policy strategy be established for the CBD and surrounding areas
• receive the Mayoral Attendance Report for February 2025
• elect Mayor Krieg as the new representative for the Richmond Tweed Regional Library
• (1) write to the Richmond Police District Commander to seek a formal explanation relating to why individuals who have broken into, damaged, stolen from, and continue to remain on enclosed lands, have not been arrested and charged with any offences or forcibly removed from the enclosed lands even though the owners have asked for police assistance, (2) write to Janelle Saffin, our State Member of Parliament, asking her to seek out any assistance available to help with the removal of the Pine Street alleged criminals, including seeking out an explanation relating to why police are failing to act to prevent ongoing criminal activity in our area, which is resulting in increasing criminal activity and anti-social behaviour, (3) write to Kevin Hogan, our Federal Member of Parliament, asking him to seek out any assistance available to help with the removal of the Pine Street alleged criminals, including possible action relating to the cancellation of visas where appropriate on character grounds under section 501 of the Migration Act 1958
• examine a plan to establish an Aboriginal art laneways project, subject to funding and that the matter be brought back to Council for a briefing
• schedule a workshop to explore all options for CBD rates
• accept cash for payments at the Revolve Shop, Lismore Recycling and Recovery Centre
• write to Crown Lands requesting that it maintains it section of the Fire Trail on Wallace Road