Mayor opposes lease
By SARAH ALLELY
SHELLHARBOUR Mayor David Hamilton has come out in total opposition to the lease of land at Killalea State Park to private developers and will urge his councillors to support his protest at its meeting next week.
"I have not come across one person who supports the leasing of the park. I have given it a lot of thought," he said.
"But the groundswell against the lease is just getting so big I thought it was time to come out and make it public where I come from."
The South Coast Labour Council and Save Killalea Alliance have delivered petitions with thousands of names to Parliament.
Councillor Hamilton had not spoken yesterday to his ALP colleagues, Lands Minister Tony Kelly and Tourism Minister Matt Brown.
"As a Labor councillor and mayor I am caught between a rock and a hard place," he said.
On April 30, Mr Kelly signed an agreement to lease three parcels of land for 52 years to Killalea Coastal Investments, now a joint venture between Mariner Financial and Babcock & Brown.
It allows a maximum of 202 residential lodges, swimming pools, tennis courts, restaurants and a conference centre.
Cr Hamilton said a turning point was when the developers and Killalea State Park Trust briefed the council on May 31.
When the developers declined his request for a copy of the briefing, he became very concerned.
Previously, Cr Hamilton had steered clear of opposing the lease until the development application was submitted at the end of the year.
The DA could be assessed by the council but most likely would go to the NSW Department of Planning.
But today, Cr Hamilton will ask councillors to strongly oppose any move by the trust to bypass the council and go straight to Planning Minister Frank Sartor.
The Mayor stressed that he was not opposing the development before seeing the application, and said councillors may support a "different kind of development".
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