How ironic then that at another ordinary meeting, some six months later on July 30 - the very same day that it voted to endorse the Central Business District Masterplan for Eden - BVSC performed a stunning volte face by resolving to reverse its original decision and support the AAPI development application, citing a risk to ratepayers of exposure to significant costs, including legal costs, if it continued to oppose the development.

While the BVSRRA can’t fault BVSC’s stated desire to protect the financial interests of residents/ratepayers, such concerns have clearly not prevented council from pursuing other contentious and financially risky decisions in the past, such as those involving Merimbula Airport, Littleton Gardens and the Tura Beach Tavern.

The BVSRRA would contend that council’s original reasons for refusing the AAPI development application are as valid today as they’ve always been and certainly community opposition to the development, in particular should it involve demolition of the building, is just as strong. 

Regrettably, the only thing that appears to have changed is the willingness of BVSC to stand-up for itself and the interests of the Eden community.

Following the decision by BVSC in July, the developer has attempted to work with the community in an effort to find a way to retain and conserve the historical façade of the building as part of the development. 

That said, the Eden community has been enormously disappointed by the failure of BVSC to try and assist in finding a solution that would satisfy the needs of all stakeholders.

Then, in what some might see as a further slap in the face to the community, last week BVSC announced a highly contentious decision to use $220,000 of ratepayers’ funds to purchase a property in Chandos St, Eden, allegedly to “improve” access to the public car park adjacent to the Hotel Australasia, but which, in the eyes of many, will also significantly benefit the commercial interests of the developer, in particular as the current vehicle access onto the site from Imlay Street will disappear along the way.

In all the circumstances, the BVSRRA does not envy the challenge confronting new Mayor Michael Britten in trying to explain to an increasingly disenchanted community how it is that BVSC has so badly managed the Hotel Australasia issue.

Although his task would certainly be made a lot easier if he demonstrated genuine leadership and brokered a compromise solution that would meet the needs of the developer on the one hand, while satisfying the expectations of residents/ratepayers by protecting and conserving a historic icon in the Eden community on the other.

John Richardson

Secretary, BVSRRA