LANDOWNERS residing in the ‘green belt’ south of Gawler will likely be forced to wait another year until learning whether they can subdivide their land into smaller 2000-2500m2 allotments.
Gawler Council’s Infrastructure and Environmental Services (IES) Committee met last Tuesday to discuss the latest on the Rural Areas Development Plan Amendment (DPA), which seeks to maintain a rural buffer zone between Gawler and the northern suburbs, while “encouraging primary production where viable” and “consolidating rural living housing choices”.
Council staff and elected members are being guided by a policy document called the ‘Gawler Rural Land Use Investigation Report’, which was compiled by consultants Jensen Planning and lists recommendations on how to maintain the visual and physical buffer comprising the suburbs of Kudla, Hillier, Evanston Gardens and Evanston South.
As previously reported in The Bunyip, one of the key points outlined in the Jensen Report – the second part of which was only released to the public in March, after being kept confidential by council for four years – was to restrict residents in these areas to subdivide their land to no less than 5000m2 in some areas, and four hectares in other parts.
Locals were invited to have their say on the DPA in May this year, after the original proposal council submitted for State Government approval, in 2018, was knocked back by planning minister Stephan Knoll in January due to a lack of adequate public consultation.
The submissions formed a report viewed by council’s IES Committee last week, which noted the majority of respondents wished to subdivide their land to 2000-2500m2 blocks due to the existing larger allotments being unviable for farming purposes, but to still maintain a rural feel to the area.
However, elected members – with the exclusion of Cr Jim Vallelonga – resolved to set aside further debate on the matter until the State Government’s new Planning and Design Code, which will replace all council DPAs, is implemented in July 2020.
Part of their reasoning was dependant on the fact further investigations into the Rural Areas DPA could cost the council up to $100,000.
A final motion still has to be approved at a full meeting of council, but with only councillors Ian Tooley, Paul Little and Nathan Shanks absent from last Tuesday’s vote – which was 6-1 in favour of revisiting the matter late next year – a different result is unlikely.