Bruce Honeyman is hopeful that he may be able to resolve zoning and entitlement issues around a 500 acre block of land owned by a company of which he is secretary.
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Speaking about the meeting with council at Towamba Hall on Tuesday evening he said it had been a constructive evening and had made people more aware of the complexities around the Bega Valley Shire Local Environmental Plan 2013, particularly section 4.2A and how that affects the planning process.
The block of land in Pericoe has 30 shares. It had 11 homes on the block - all bar one, have been lost in the fires and all were uninsured. But there is only one building entitlement on the block.
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But council has said it it open to looking at community title for the block which is what Mr Honeyman is hoping to achieve.
"It was set up in 1973 and was one of the first hippy communes. There were a lot of musos from Melbourne who lived there, it was active, they had a meeting house, library and quite a few grew their own food but the ethos waned, the village was fragmented although a core group stayed," Mr Honeyman said.
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"Individuals will have tenure over their block, they can get insurance and will be able to buy and sell the block," he said.
"One place has access through a Forestry Road. We had a member who before Christmas was critically injured and had to be airlifted out because an ambulance would not have been able to get through," Mr Honeyman said.
He would like a separate meeting with council staff and councillors on just the planning and zoning issues without any discussion of the bushfire recovery process.
"The majority of people out here are low or middle income earners. They've just lost their home and every possession, there's no water, no power or internet. Any income they have or savings will go towards a temporary structure, something to put over their heads and the basics. It won't build a home. The amount of money given from various organisations will never compensate them," Mr Honeyman said.
"If people are unable to go back on their land, they will go back anyway and build illegally and council will still be faced with the same issue," he said.
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