Thanks to Maureen Kelly who warned us when we arrived in '97 about real-estate agents lies regarding rezoning of non-urban blocks. BUT many others were not that lucky.
When we had bought and built on Cove Blvd. I wrote this on June 23, 2002. (see also on my blog a pdf idea submission to the NACRA meeting 1 June 2019 for similarities 17 years later).
CITY SUBDIVISION - A disaster waiting to happen
What is the solution to the fact that we live in a City subdivision? The hundreds of city-size blocks we casually stroll by will eventually be available for building, turning one of the last natural peninsulas into yet another tourist town.
The people who own blocks need to be getting some value from their investment in the reasonably near future. Many were sold the land by deceptive developers who disguised the building restrictions.
We also have added development pressure with the Carrington proposal but the suspicion is that bringing in townwater and sewage would be incredibly damaging and expensive for all concerned.
This year happens to be the official 'International Year of Ecotourism' a number of 'poli's' have been hyping up about this... particularly in the Myall Lakes area.
Anyway here's one fairly radical idea...
What if part of North Arm Cove's central area (probably the highest part) becomes a 'get away from it all' Ecotourism centre with a number of solar-powered chalets, eco-education centre etc. Those who own rural blocks get a timeshare holiday situation where they can come and stay (or friends) for a number of weeks free every year.
They would need to donate their title to National Parks (there is probably some tax break in this). We approach National Parks for funding to build the 'low-tech' eco accommodation and try to get the whole non-village rural area designated as National Park status...
Let's see if anyone has other ideas... perhaps we could approach the council with a positive plan before they sell it all off to solve their financial problems?
Darrall Thompson
