Crs Talty and Gleeson stage a walkout in protest against the election of Cr Lance Hewlett as Deputy Mayor.
Cr Lance Hewlett was elected Deputy Mayor of Redland City at the Council meeting on 18 April after councillors Julie Talty and Paul Gleeson walked out of the chambers, protesting about a secret deal.
Crs Talty said the decision on who should be Deputy Mayor was tainted by secret backroom deals and Cr Gleeson said the decision “lacks integrity”.
Discussion about this item commences at 56 minutes on the meeting video recording.
The meeting minutes show that Cr Hewlett was elected unanimously for a term of one year by the seven councillors in the room: Wendy Boglary, Paul Golle, Lance Hewlett, Mark Edwards, Murray Elliott, Tracey Huges and Paul Bishop.
The minutes say: “Crs Talty and Gleeson abstained from voting and left the room when the vote was taken.”
Mayor Karen Williams and Cr Peter Mitchell were absent from the council meeting, attending an eco-tourism conference in New Zealand.
Trees saved in Redland Bay
Trees at 97-101 Unwin Road in Redland Bay will retain their current protection following Council’s decision 6/3 to refuse a developer’s rezoning request.
Trees on this property will retain their current protection following Council’s decision 6/3 to refuse a developer’s rezoning request.
By six votes to three, councillors adopted the following motion:
That Council resolves to refuse the applicant’s request to re-classify the koala habitation classification as the site is appropriately designated high value bushland habitat and medium value rehabilitation under schedule 11, part 4 of the Planning Regulation 2017.
- Crs Gollè, Hewlett, Elliott, Huges, Bishop and Boglary voted FOR the motion
- Crs Edwards, Talty and Gleeson voted AGAINST the motion
- Crs Williams and Mitchell were absent from the meeting
Cutting the grass
Redland City Council webpage advising details of major tenders awarded
A five year grass cutting contract worth about $4.8 million will soon be awarded by the Council.
Councillors voted unanimously to delegate to the CEO the authority to award this contract.
When the contract has been awarded, information including the identity of the successful contractor will be published on the Council’s website in accordance with legislative requirements.
Downsizing of Capalaba residential project approved
There will now be just two towers at the Rhodes residential project in Capalaba.
Plans for changes to the Rhodes apartment complex in Capalaba were approved by Council.
Instead of six towers with 271 apartments the project will now have 139 dwellings consisting of two towers and 41 townhouses.
This reduction was proposed by the developer in response to “market conditions’.
A motion to approve the project’s downsizing was approved by eight votes to one.
- Crs Gollè, Hewlett, Edwards, Huges, Talty, Gleeson, Bishop and Boglary voted FOR the motion
- Cr Elliott voted AGAINST the motion
- Crs Williams and Mitchell were absent from the meeting
Plans for development at this site were approved in 2009 but the initial developer went into liquidation.
In 2013/14 Redland City Council decided (in closed session) to put in a tender for the site. It’s not clear why a “back to basics” Council wanted to spend ratepayers funds on acquisition of a multi-million dollar residential development site.
The Council was outbid by current owners of the project, Heran Building Group.
See also the Redland City Bulletin story: Capalaba tower blocks to be cut back.
Redlands2030 – 25 April 2018
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4 Comments
Thank God we have seen some common sense in that ‘six 6-storey’ apt buildings has been downsized to 41 town houses and only one further high rise building of 139 apts in an increasingly congested local area.
Good to hear too that Mayor Williams and MP for Capalaba Don Brown have ironed out their differences and will work together to, heard it for best part of a decade, further the Eastern Busway road widening, from Coorparoo to Capalaba. Ex-Premier Campbell Newman would have seen difficulty in places like Camp Hill, that would need tunnelling as resuming bldgs in that stretch of road to widen, according to road users I’ve spoken with, would be impossible. As for travelling to and from work outside Redlands by bus, some friends complain, unlike in past years, its slow with stops along the way & neighbours with 3 cars I’ve spoken with, won’t use the bus service, because buses don’t get them to work destinations so continue driving. Can we look forward to a dedicated Eastern Busway lane providing fast, affordable transport for Redland commuters any time soon? Seems to me State/Federal governments have other important priorities to bring about safer travel on Queensland roads.
Reading the latest appt of Lance Hewlett to the position of Deputy Mayor it is interesting to see that 4 councillors were absent. Julie Talty knows all about backroom deals but when she offered herself to LNP in last state election many voters smelled a rat. Cr Gleeson has yet to learn the meaning of the word integrity and the two strongest supporters of the Walker Proposal for 3,600 units in a shore bird protection zone were off at an eco tourism meeting in NZ. Let’s hope they learnt that tourism is driven by abundant wildlife and scenic beauty, not by 10 storeys of units in a coastal zone that is already under road and infrastructure stress.
Has Rhodes development lodged a new application as required by law or has the Council just approved a significant change to the original application without going through due process?
Congratulations to the councillors who stood by the original approval to protect koala trees in Redland Bay. There has been far too many hundreds of trees lost in this area which has such important habitat it for koalas. Not sure if I read it correctly but I question why any officer would approve this amendment to destroy the area trees?
Thank goodness, Councillor Hewlett has now been given a position of authority and the Williams team have been defeated while the leader has been absent.
For the good of Redlands residents, Mayor Williams should be absent more often.
These recent decisions only highlight who the ‘elephant in the room’ is at council meetings.