The Rosny Hill Nature Recreation Area Development Saga - Untangled
By Guest Blogger, Denise Hoggan.Clarence City Council is the initiator and facilitator of the now withdrawn development proposal for Rosny Nature Recreation Area.
The amount of direct community consultation is in vivid contrast to that undertaken for the Acton Tracks and Trails Activity Plan. The consultation for this included the usual displays and newspaper advertisements. Surprisingly, as the agenda of Councils meeting on 18th June 2018 indicate: "A total of 969 letters and feedback forms were mailed to Acton Park residents, property owners and key stakeholders..."
No such direct consultation occurred with the 750 households of Rosny-Montagu Bay throughout the whole proposed development process, which began in 2010. In this time period these property owners would have paid council more than $10 million in rates yet are not worth $700 in consultation.
My Interest
I have been digging into documents for the last 4 years, have met with the Mayor and some Councillors to discuss the situation and have obtained extra data through Right to Information legislation. The facts, as stated, are verified facts. Forgive me if my frustrations and opinions creep in. 4 years of research to get the answers that you want can be really tedious.The way that I unfold the timeline will be in no way related to the way in which I discovered things. My personal journey began with a shock. Date: April 2014 - Hobart Mercury.
Vacant Possession??? Rosny Hill??? Isn't it a Nature Recreation Area??
At the time I was the Rosny - Montagu Bay Landcare and Coastcare Coordinator.
I had retired to Rosny Point in 2005, for the quiet, peace, nearby bushland and views.
My investigative journey was slow and fragmented. It does not bear retelling. Instead, let the Council Documents tell their own story.
It's a long story
Clarence City Council became the managing authority for the Rosny Hill Nature Recreation Area in 2009. Was it their love of natural spaces that drove this initiative?
Targeting
Perhaps not. In the 2010 Strategic Plan Rosny Hill had been targeted as a source of PROSPERITY. Check this extract. Rosny Hill is not the only source of mighty $$$.
Were you aware of these other development targets? Are they in your area?
Planning
Council wanted more. In 2011, it released the Rosny Hill Nature Recreation Management Strategy (Non statutory - that is it cannot overrule the provisions of the National Parks and Reserves Management Act of 2002).
The consultants who had compiled the report noted the following Native Vegetation:None of the subsequent reports from other organisations focus on the threatened SPECIES, but this report does. It is open, honest and evidence based.
Later reports stresst the absence of threatened communities. That is an easy way to play down recognition of the threatened species in the area.
The consultants employed to produce the 2011 management strategy made their findings clear.
Was this an effort by the consultancy firm to assert their Integrity and distance themselves from this part of the action plan?
Spending more ratepayers funds on Consultancy.
By early 2012, Council was employing more consultants. This time it was a property assessment firm. Council considered its report in June 2012.I have read the Agenda for this Council Meeting a number of times and also the property consultant's report. It was at this meeting that the idea of a conference centre on Rosny Hill popped out of the air and into the Council officers report. It was NOT a consultant's recommendation.
Also, with respect to Tourist Accommodation, the consultant's report stated:
"Given the high margins in tourist accommodation, the scale of an accommodation facility can be kept relatively small (e.g. possibly 10 to 15 cabins )"
How did this ever translate into a 100 unit resort proposal, complete with swimming pool and conference centre?
The report also recommended that Council spend money on "non-commercially viable development to promote increased active recreational use of the property and provision of services infrastructure which will underpin and facilitate commercial development”.
Why didn't Clarence City Council spend a little money on improving the residential amenity for the residents of Rosny and Montagu Bay: a boom gate to stop hooning at night for example.
Getting more Control
Just five month's later, in 2013, Clarence City Council had its lease from the Crown. Sole authority. Sole lessee. The days of joint management were gone. Parks and Wildlife ensured that the lease took the Nature Conservation Act, 2002 and the National Parks and Reserves Management Act of 2002 into account. andCreating a Suitable Interim Planning Scheme.
Council continued to move swiftly. On the 17th of March 2014 the Clarence Draft Interim Planning Scheme was endorsed by Council. Now a 500 page planning scheme does not pop into existence overnight. Admittedly, the State Government had provided a template. This was called Planning directive number 1. (PD1) The idea was to get the 29 councils to have schemes in a similar format before the State Planning Provisions became operational. Why were Clarence Council finished so quickly? The agenda for this meeting points out “there is no legislative requirement to initiate a draft interim planning scheme at this time.” Why the rush?A closer look at the agenda for this meeting might show what is going on. Skim reading would not. Firstly, let us look at the zoning map for that Draft Interim Planning Scheme. The image below is extracted from a poster size map obtained under Right To Information Legislation. This map was not in the agenda. Councillors may have been expected to recall it from online viewing, unless they had a viewing device in this meeting.
Let's look at that agenda more closely. The officers recommendations in their conversion table are out of step with this zoning. Read them for yourself - here is there table from that agenda 17/3/2014:
It comes back to Don Watson and his "weasel words". They appear earlier in the agenda. Even though there is no mention of Rosny Hill in this entire agenda, there is one key sentence that lets the Clarence City Council off the hook legally. No mention of Rosny Hill Nature Recreation Area needed...
This situation was checked with Clarence City Council by submitting the following question in a meeting on the 13th of September, 2018:
"...at its meeting of 17th of March, 2014, why was the anomalous zoning of Rosny Hill Nature Recreation Area not made more explicit in either the agenda or the minutes?"
The reply: 'The recreation zone was applied to the RHNRA , because, in accordance with the RHNRA Management plan (August 2011) had previously been identified for development consistent with the 'reserve' status of the land.
But, hang on again - Does the non-statutory RHNMA Management plan of August 2011 over-rule 2 State Laws and a Legal Lease? No matter. Clarence City Council forged ahead.
Seeking Developers
The very next month the Expression of Interest process was advertised in the Hobart Mercury as an "unprecedented development site". Ka-ching!Submissions were due by the end of June 2014. The document was available for potential developers but was never placed on Clarence City Council's website. When Council was asked about this on 13/9/2018, the reply included: ..."however, if a request had been made, Council would have provided a copy" How remiss of me. I thought Council represented residents. These days I am not as naive.
Announcing a Concept in the first half of 2015.
Full credit to the developer for holding a preview for the local Landcare group and a public meeting at Rosny Bowling Club. This meeting had no facilitation by Council. In my opinion, it was as if Council were trying to distance themselves from the developer. While I am straying from documented fact, let me relay a community rumour that this was the only expression of interest submitted. It has to be an ambit claim. Did our Councillors even understand that concept? 38 submissions were sent in to Council or the developer. The number 1 concern was traffic.
Support for the Preferred Developer
This was the modified development in November 2015. The company became the "preferred developer". This version has an extra storey dug into the side of the hill! Swimming pool too!
Clarence City Council provides support for developers in the city. This Rosny Hill Nature Recreation Area development proposal received support for over 2 and a half years! In the meantime, no support was offered to the Rosny Hill Friends Network and each of their actions to protect the reserve status was obstructed.
The Development Application of April 2018
It was submitted on the 20th April and the fee paid in May. The public had a brief glimpse at Rosny Library on 24th April. There are few pictures in the public domain. ABC News released this oneAlthough it has a smaller footprint, it has the same capacity. It has more accommodation units than Freycinet Lodge.
I hope the preceding outline of the process gives you an appreciation of how information can be hidden from the public domain. Who wants to trawl Council Documents in their spare time? Where was the open community consultation? Where was the generation of ideas for alternative uses?
I have empathy for the position of Councillor. Information was doled out to them piecemeal. They are swamped with information. Yet they occupy a privileged position. They must be information analysts. They must be aware of their own Cognitive Biases.
Did the Council have a Cognitive Bias?
When I was speaking to our Mayor, I mentioned this to him and he objected strongly, saying that Council is not biased.Sorry Mr Mayor, but Cognitive Bias is part of the human condition. We all exist in our own "filter bubble", often accepting only that evidence that feeds into our own values. It is a hard task indeed to change anyones mind, especially your own.
When a project has been followed for a long time, there is more of a tendency to want to complete it - as mentioned in the above diagram (which can be sourced on wikipedia) there is an escalation of commitment.
Councillors, don't charge blindly down a path that you have followed for 9 years. There is everyday word for Cognitive Bias... Groupthink.
Consider the alternative cost. What could we have in the Rosny Hill Nature Recreation area? Don't lead us by the nose, but listen.