Cr Cathy Griff has received majority support from councillors to bring the matter of Bega's Littlewoods Estate before council.
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The development on Bega's Est St has been the subject of disputes between the developer and those keen to get on with building their home and the Friends of Glebe Wetlands group who are concerned about the grey-headed flying fox camp and are calling for buffer zones between the development and the flying fox camp.
Cr Griff said the justification for the move to bring it to council was the "long history of dispute between the developer and the Friends of Glebe Wetlands". She also wanted council to be seen as transparent and have the debate in the public domain.
"We have a workshop coming up on the situation. I'm appealing to councillors to delay the decision (about the DA which has already been approved) until after the workshop. When there is a controversial DA in front of us it is important to hear the debate in public," Cr Griff said.
"I'm not here to try and influence you on your decision (about the DA)."
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Cr Griff asked councillors to provide the opportunity for the matter to be debated "as it should be".
"I understand that staff are currently reviewing the process for when DAs will be reported to council, however this will not be completed in time to consider the Littlewoods DA within any new or updated process," Cr Griff said.
But the mayor Russell Fitzpatrick said the move would be "opening a whole can of worms".
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"We ask staff to do this for us; they go to uni and get degrees for this. It's a staff decision whether it comes to council. We're holding up families who want a home," Cr Fitzpatrick said.
However Cr Liz Seckold agreed with Cr Griff that it was a contentious issue and Cr Helen O'Neil said there was a need for transparency.
"I would prefer it to happen in public because of the long history of this DA," Cr O'Neil said.
The motion was carried with Crs Griff, Seckold, Porter, O'Neil, Robin and Wright voting for it, Crs Fitzpatrick and Allen voting against and Cr Nadin absent.
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