CANBERRA Investment Corporation Limited (CIC) is withdrawing from development plans at Tathra River Estate, stating that “uncertain planning processes make (the) Tathra development unviable”.
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CIC’s Regional General Manager, Malcolm Leslie, said the company has been working for the past five years on preliminary studies for the proposed Tathra River Estate Stage 2 Development inline with council’s requirements for the development’s concept plan.
“Our approach from the outset has been to balance community and environmental needs, which is in keeping with our corporate philosophy of building sustainable communities,” Mr Leslie said.
“As part of the work to achieve concept plan approval, CIC invested considerable time and money to complete a range of technical studies. “These were undertaken to inform how the development might take place and to develop appropriate concepts for the site.”
The studies related to a range of possible impacts including heritage, environment, biodiversity, ecology, threatened species, indigenous Aust-ralians, water quality, marine and climate change.
Extensive negotiations were also undertaken with council on infrastructure and servicing needs, and consultation also occurred with community and local groups to ensure their views and feedback were considered as planning progressed.
“As part of this process, in-principle arrangements for servicing and the provision of infrastructure were agreed with council,” Mr Leslie said.
“It is worth noting that this preliminary work and investment was undertaken in good faith and with the knowledge that the land for the development was still in the hands of a private owner.
“Council has advised however that the concept plan for the development is unlikely to be considered further without costly detailed engineering analysis being carried out into the proposed effluent reuse scheme.”
Mr Leslie said that given the additional cost and uncertainty of this process, combined with the current lull in the local real estate market, the significant additional investment required by CIC to complete this further detailed analysis did not make “good business sense”.
“Particularly when it is unknown whether council will commit to final approval for the development,” Mr Leslie said.
