The council had also applied for State planning reform grant to develop an employment land strategy that would identify what sort of industry could be developed in the district and where the most appropriate location for the development would be.

Council planners are set to give another presentation to the Tourism Board on the LEP, while the chamber was also scheduled to discuss the LEP at its monthly meeting this week.

All properties in the shire rezoned in plan

A MEETING at the Narooma Golf Club last Tuesday heard of the implications on properties with the introduction of Eurobodalla Shire Council's proposed Local Environment Plan.

The meeting was called to awaken awareness to the LEP process and it was attended by local bankers, valuers, all five of the town's real estate agents, architects, surveyors, solicitors, and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, and included several property developers.

Councillors Rob Pollock and Lindsay Brown also participated.

Land planning consultant David Seymour addressed the meeting and emphasised the need for every property owner to find out how their land is affected, and if not satisfied with the changes, they should write a submission to Council prior to the deadline of July 24.

"Everyone who owns property in the Shire shall be impacted," Mr Seymour said.

"Land use categories have all changed."

One question repeatedly asked at the meeting was: "What happens to land valuations?"

Valuer Jeff Langford said new constraints applied to various areas, which reduces potential land uses and decreases development opportunities, therefore greatly reducing property value.

All land owners were urged to get on the Eurobodalla Shire's web site and find out the impact to their own circumstance; or alternatively give council officers a ring on 4474 1000.

"The time left for submissions is short," one of the meeting's organisers Phil Constable said.

Architects, surveyors and developers are concerned that all areas are being rezoned and there will be some cases where people will not be able to build anything on their land.

Local architect Mike Badman said one example was Tilba Street, which is proposed to be zoned "R3".

"This means that only multi-residential development will be permitted and no single dwellings permitted," Mr Badman said.

"The existing houses will be able to exist in their current form but future single dwellings will not be permitted."

There are other examples of proposed R3 zones in Narooma, he said.

There is a strong possibility that many people, and the value of their land, will be affected by the new LEP and many may not be aware of the situation.

The general consensus from the meeting at the Narooma Golf Club was that it was extremely important for public awareness to be greatly increased.

Local Environment Plan meeting in Bodalla

A group of about 70 Bodalla residents met at the Bodalla Bowling Club last Thursday to discuss the Eurobodalla Shire Council's Local Environment Plan and the effects the rezoning would have on ratepayers.

Former council employee David Seymour, who had input into the draft LEP, led the session. Mr Seymour is now self-employed as a land planning consultant.

"I saw a need to disseminate information, particularly to legal and real estate practitioners," Mr Seymour said.

"We needed to get together to talk about some of the changes."

Initially, Mr Seymour set up a meeting at Batemans Bay and extended an invitation to people to attend.

"People thought it was a semi council funded meeting, but it wasn't," he said.

Although David had some input into the draft LEP he admits "it has been extremely difficult to understand".

"It didn't seem that the average person or land owner was in the position to interpret the information," he said.

So, Mr Seymour has been running meetings throughout the shire trying to help people work through the layers of information and be better informed.

Councillor Rob Pollock who was at the Bodalla meeting on Thursday said the general consensus has been "you can have your say but it won't make any difference".

"Not so," Cr Pollock said.

"If you are not happy with the way you have been treated you've got to bash on the door.

"Nothing is set in stone."

Councillor Pollock also told the meeting that he was prepared to fight for anybody in the room if he thought they were being treated inequitably.

He also urged people to get their submissions before the July 24 deadline.

If people are having problems making a submission they can contact Councils' Strategic Services staff between 9am to 11am and 2pm to 4pm at the Council's Administration Office in Moruya or phone the LEP hotline on 4474 7486.

Written submissions can be posted to the General Manager, Eurobodalla Shire Council, LEP Submission, PO Box 99, Moruya 2537 or email your submission direct from the website: lep2009submission@eurocoast.nsw.g ov.au

Plain English LEP

THE possibility of Eurobodalla Shire Council publishing a plain English explanation of its draft Local Environmental Plan was raised last week. But it seemed council wasn't keen to do so.

Deua Valley resident Peter Cormick mentioned it during Public Forum at council's June meeting. He said council had produced a plain English explanation of the LEP, and asked if council could publish it?

Development manager Lindsay Usher said he thought it would be inappropriate to do so. "The access to information is extensive," he said, adding it was in various forms.

Council's plain English explanation is on its website, along with details of the draft plan.

The draft LEP has been prepared in response to the State Government requirement for all NSW Councils to have an LEP consistent with the Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Order 2006, known as the "standard template." Council has taken the approach, as far as possible, of a direct translation of the existing Eurobodalla LEPs (Urban and Rural), and amendments, into the format of the standard template. Thus the current zones, the preferred land uses within those zones and the majority of provisions have largely been carried over and renamed within the structure and requirements of the standard template.

There are, however, exceptions to this approach where direct translation has not been possible.

All zone names and numbers have changed under the standard template. In addition there are a number of new zones, as provided in the standard template. The special uses (5) zone no longer exists under the standard template. Land currently zoned special uses (5) has been translated to another zone which provides the closest land use match or is consistent with the surrounding land zoning.

The draft LEP mapping is significantly different to the current LEP mapping and has been prepared consistent with the Department of Planning Mapping Guidelines and requirements.

Currently the LEP mapping contains only a "zone" layer. The draft LEP 2009 mapping covers the entire ESC Local Government Area and comprises a maximum 14 sheet tile layout with a total of 202 x A3 map sheets in PDF digital format at varying scales. In addition to the mandatory Land Application Map (LAP), 15 LEP themes (layers) are covered in Councils mapping, these include:

LZN Land zoning. BIO Biodiversity Land. FSR Floor space ratio. BRL Beach Road Land. HOB Height of buildings. COR Habitat Corridors. LSZ Lot size. INF Infrastructure Buffer. HER Heritage. RIP Riparian Corridors. ASS Acid sulphate soils. URA Urban Release Areas. FLD Flood planning map. WET Wetland/Coastal Lakes. LRA Land reservation acquisition."