At Wednesday’s council meeting, an option to run the Tathra township section of track along the southern side of Bega St, utilising Lawrence Park, before crossing the road and continuing along the northern side to the school, was approved.

However, it wasn’t unanimous, and came after a bewildering series of motions, foreshadowed motions, and points of order on meeting practice. It may not be entirely surprising given the proposal itself has divided many in the community – not about whether Tathra should have a shared bike pathway, but about on which side of the street it should be built.

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Two residents spoke at the council meeting, outlining issues they had with the recommended north side alignment and perceived safety issues. Another later outlined potential benefits of the north alignment in that it could focus attention on a wide verge and nature strip in need of improvement anyway.

As it was only the section of path from around the Rural Fire Service shed to the school that was in contention, Cr Mitchell Nadin moved to proceed with design, tender and construction of the track from Kalaru to the fire shed and defer the remainder pending a site visit.

Cr Sharon Tapscott moved that the track should continue to Lawrence Park as the best and safest spot for offloading children and bikes, and would do away with any safety issues regarding crossing driveways and intersections through to the school.

Cr Nadin’s motion was lost and Cr Tapscott had no seconder.

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Cr Russell Fitzpatrick then moved that council proceed as per the outlined staff reports, with the track to follow the “option two” route. His motion passed 6-1, with Cr Tapscott against, Cr Liz Seckold out of the room due to a conflict of interest and Cr Robyn Bain absent.

It’s believed the option to proceed was necessary so as not to jeopardise the $3million in state government funding that is paying for this first section of a track, which is eventually hoped will connect Tathra to Bega.

A separate motion was passed unanimously to apply for the compulsory acquisition of land near the Strathmore Crescent intersection to allow for road widening to accommodate the bike track.