PUBLIC submissions from local residents made to Gawler Council in response to a previously secret report have shown an overwhelming amount of support for rezoning Gawler’s “buffer zone”.
The Rural Land Use and Infrastructure Investigation Report No 2, known as ‘Jensen Report No 2’, was released for public consultation on May 1 after being kept confidential by the council for four years.
The report and its preceding document, Jensen Report No 1, were designed to make planning recommendations to rezone Gawler’s “buffer zone”, consisting of the suburbs of Kudla, Hillier, Evanston Gardens and Evanston South.
Jensen Report No 2 recommended rezoning the land to the west of the Gawler rail line, between Stebonheath and Gordon roads as “rural living”, allowing residents to subdivide their land to 5000m² allotments, down from the current 4ha minimum restriction.
Land east of the train line was not considered to be rezoned for “rural living”, meaning allotments would need to remain at 4ha.
Responses to the report came from across the Gawler region, with 120 residents making a submission.
Many raised concerns about the viability of primary production on the land in question, with the price of water and condition of the land being key factors.
Submissions from many businesses in the buffer zone indicated they had been forced to take on expenses such as leasing land away from the zone to keep their operations running.
Kudla landowner Bruno Capogreco, in a written submission to council, stated his family was forced to abandon viticulture on their land as it was no longer viable due to high water costs and complaints from nearby residents.
“Aside from the broken promise of water for farming, and then denying us irrigation, it is neither viable nor practical to have a rural-farming-zoned property in Kudla,” he stated.
“This is due to the land sizes being too small for modern day commercial farming and treated down water being the only costly source of irrigation.
“Also against the production of our vineyard were the endless complaints of residents in the established residential dwellings in the area.
“Thanks to the powers that be, it has been a frustrating money pit, and unfortunately will continue to be, unless rezoned for residential development.”
There were few submissions in favour of retaining the buffer zone, with some support coming from residents in Kudla and Gawler East.
Kudla residents Jacqueline and Bob Raphael’s submission suggested allowing residents to sub-divide their allotments to 2.5 acres (just over one hectare), but no smaller.
They rejected the idea that “you cannot grow anything in Kudla”.
“Gawler has used the motto ‘best of town and country’,” Mr Raphael stated.
“I believe the country part is overlooked; once the country feel is gone, it can never be reclaimed and we just become another suburb.
“I do not feel that anyone who does not enjoy living in Kudla, and is only interested in financial gain by subdividing into small blocks, should impose his or her pecuniary wishes on those who love living in the rural environment.”
Those who made submissions were invited to speak at a special meeting of the council’s Infrastructure and Environmental Services (IES) committee, held last night after The Bunyip’s print deadline.
Council staff will prepare a further report on the public submissions to be presented to the IES committee in August.
