Mayor Carmelo Pesce says he wants to see “shovels in the ground” for a new Sutherland Entertainment Centre by the end of the next term of council.
“We at least want a decision on which way to go,” he said.
Cr Pesce revealed the goal while discussing priorities if the Liberal team retains control of the council at the September 10 election.
“I have been working on this for the last three years,” Cr Pesce said.
“We had a bit of a curved ball with some legal issues, but we have now appointed a company to give us a feasibility study and some direction.”
Cr Pesce said low rates and new infrastructure were priorities for the Liberals.
“Basically, our goals are to continue on with what we have been doing for the last four years,” he said.
”We want to focus on keeping rates as low as we can, and we don’t want any special rate levies,
“We want to deliver infrastructure to make sure residents get value for their rates.”
Cr Pesce said the council’s finances were in good shape as a result of decisions made over the last four years.
“Out of 158 councils in NSW, only eight ticked the box as being ‘fit for the future’ [not needing to be amalgamated] and we were one of them,” he said.
Cr Pesce said he believed the council had the right approach on development decisions.
His first move after being elected mayor was to announce development applications (DAs) would in future be dealt with by council officers, rather than elected councillors.
Labor plans to reverse the policy if it controls the new council.
“We have taken the politics out of DAs,” Cr Pesce said..
“They are being done by experts; councillors are not experts,” he said.
”If there are concerns in the community, residents can go to their ward councillors, who can refer the DA to an independent panel.
“When Labor was in control, if a DA was compliant and got refused, the applicant would just go to the Land and Environment Court.
“The council would spend millions of dollars on court costs and still lose.”
Cr Pesce said the contentious 2015 Local Environmental Plan was started by the previous council, which was controlled by Labor and Shire Watch.
He said decisions were being made “behind closed doors”, but, under the new council, the decision-making was brought out into the open.
Cr Pesce said it would be several years before the next LEP.
“There is usually an interval of seven to 10 years,” he said.
Cr Pesce said it would be up to the new council to decide what to do about the draft development control plan (DCP), which is in “limbo”.
New laws prevented the present council dealing with it because every councillor was considered to have a potential conflict of interest through property ownership.
Cr Pesce said he had enjoyed his role as mayor.
“I think I have done a good job, but, if we do win, it will be up to our team to say who will be mayor,” he said.
