Dear Greg,

The Australand development.

There are many things about this development which are blatantly wrong and illogical.

Who told you the Australand development fitted in with the Town Plan? We believe you have not been given the full story. Perhaps you should have dug a little deeper on such an important issue to the residents you would like to represent.

In your email, you say  you are "one of ....."the 7 in favour of the Australand 15 storey development.""

Does this mean that you agree with council and Australand that it is GOOD for Burleigh Heads?

”This will really set the direction of any future development in Burleigh” Australand (GC Sun, 27/8/2003). You therefore agree with this statement?

Do you agree with the council and Australand that replacing 10 one bedroom units with 92 permanent units (1, 2 and 3 bedrooms) will lower the traffic?  If so, can you explain the logic?

Do you agree that more parking spaces should be eliminated so that the public footpaths can be widened to allow Australand to offer al fresco dining? Why isn't the al fresco dining included on their land rather than public land? Why do you believe that they should be able to use public land?

Do you agree that 1 parking space is enough for 2 and 3 bedroom units and that it is then ok to cut this back even further by 20%?  What about the public parking opposite which will be severely reduced for the public? Surely we want more parking spots, not less.

Do you know the difference between H7 and H7 (H15) zoning? Remember that Australand had to apply for relaxation; it does not have an “as of right” to build to 15 storeys.

Do you agree with them that it is ok to put shops in the development even though it is illegal?

Do you agree with their interpretation of gradation, i.e. that they compare its gradation to Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and Coolangatta instead of just the local precinct?

Do you agree with the amount of landscaping that has been done (well below the minimum)?

Can you show us on Australand’s plan where there is the required 6 metres of landscaping between this development and the adjacent property?

Do you agree with council and Australand that it is in the overall public interest? If you do, what do you say about the huge number of signatures against it, the residents who showed up for the rally, the letters submitted to council, the results of the GCB poll and the results of our poll?

There are many more such questions about the development which you perhaps are not aware of.

Since you are in favour of the development, we will have to assume that you agree with council and Australand on the above and that you disagree with potentially 98% of the people you hope to represent. Who are you representing; council or the residents?

We have been advised that the development doesn’t fit in with the Town Plan. Council, Cr Robbins & Cr Drake told us that if they didn't allow it, the developer would take it to court and council would lose. The same people told us that Indigo Blue would only be 15 storeys; it is now 20 storeys. Cr Robbins used the same legal standover tactics with Dr Karen Coates but she wouldn't be intimidated. Dr Coates won. The residents of Division 12 intend doing the same thing.

The point is that residents’ wishes and input are being ignored. They want someone to represent them and surely this is what a councillor should do.

To answer your statement about insulting anyone's intelligence, our members may have great difficulty believing that:
          this council always does what is best for the residents
         Australand's 15 storey development is good for Burleigh
         a candidate can agree with Australand's development & Australand’s vision
                     for Burleigh & then say he/she is protecting Burleigh’s village character.

How can anyone support the Australand development and then say that they are in favour of retaining Burleigh's village atmosphere? Our members have made it quite clear that they believe the Australand development will kill the village atmosphere.

Funding.

We believe the voters have a right to know about the funding of candidates before the election. Will you be releasing your funding before the election?

There have been rumours that some candidates may be funded by developers. We believe that rumours are not fair to the candidates and that the rumours should be stopped.

Are you being supported by developers? Do you know of any candidates being supported by developers? If so, which candidates and which developers?

Information.

Greg, you accuse us of bias. We disagree; we are providing information to our members. We disclose all the facts we know so that members can make up their own minds. 

The polls have shown what the residents want. Irene is the only candidate who has been fighting for what they want on these issues. That is fact and it will be reported as such.

If you intend to fight for the wishes of the residents on these proven important issues to the residents, even though you haven't done so in the past, then we will certainly let our members know.

If you want us to send your answers to the above questions to our members or if we have said anything above that you believe is wrong and needs correcting, please let us know and we will email our members accordingly.

Regards,
FOBA Committee.