The final Lismore City Council meeting for this term occurred last night before the election of eleven new councillors on Saturday, September 14.

Mayor Steve Krieg put forward a Mayoral Minute so outgoing councillors Darlene Cook, Elly Bird, and Peter Colby could make farewell speeches. Councillor (Cr) Vanessa Ekins will not be standing for council, but will be standing for Mayor at the next election and did speak. You can read the farewell speeches later today on the Lismore App.

Before her departure from the chamber Cr Bird put forward a motion where council would adopt a flood planning level of the 0.2% AEP design flood event (1 in 500-year probability) + 500mm freeboard. Currently, the DCP is the national standard, which is 1% AEP (1 in 100-year probability) + 500mm freeboard + climate change.

Cr Bird made the point that the DCP (Development Control Plans) had not been updated after the 2022 flood, in fact, it was a debated issue before the 2017 flood, leaving developers with no clear guidance about what commercial businesses they can and cannot build in various parts of Lismore and South Lismore.

Shaun Stead, a well-known Lismore entrepreneur, has farming, residential and commercial interests. Shaun was a public speaker at last night's council meeting and said he wants to build a new Early Childhood Learning Centre at his 3,800 square metre commercial building in South Lismore. It sits at approximately 12.6 metres and had never been flooded before February 28 2022.

Shaun said that if the new Draft DCP was approved, his floor would need to be raised to 13.83 metres, which was unrealistic for such a large commercial building size. He was also confused by the different colours that appeared in the DCP maps when he looked at his building. There was three differing colours indicating different heights.

"It really is the economic driver for Lismore. This is where we build unique equipment. We keep the farming sector operational and the apprentices, this is where they get trained. This cannot be understated in its importance," Shaun said about South Lismore.

The uncertainty was a point not lost on Cr Bird.

"What we have is, we have people who want to undertake development who do not have the guidance that they require before they embark along the very expensive process of development, planning and consideration. The requirements of our staff are clear. They're legislated in state legislation that council staff have to consider a revised flood planning height, regardless of what's in our DCP. So, my understanding is that if a developer approaches Council and has planned something based on our existing DCP, staff then have to go through a very lengthy, very confusing, very complex process with those developers to actually explain that there's all of these other maps, there's all this other information, there's all this other modelling that council has available to it, that the planners have to consider.

"In adopting a revised DCP, we put that information in front of the public so that they can make decisions before they go too far down the path of bringing a development to Council. That's what the draft DCP does. It doesn't prevent or block all development in the floodplain. It merely provides guidance. It's best practice planning.

"To have that information front and centre and available, publicly available to people when they're making decisions. Yes, new development would need to have a flood floor height above the flood planning level, which is slightly revised. It's definitely not as high as the 2022 but you'll note that in the DCP, there are very sensible suggestions, such as refuge that is above the 2022 levels. So, the DCP also puts in place risk management factors. It puts in place requirements for development to have consideration for the possibility that another 2022, flood may happen."

Cr Rob was one councillor who wanted to wait until the CSIRO released their full report at the end of June 2025 before updating the DCP.

"The certainty at the moment is that we know what we have. We know what the rules are. We know that the levels are there. We know the risk. We live through the risk. And as we heard, not only did South Lismore get going pretty quickly, they led our recovery by a long way."

Cr Jensen agreed with the comments made by Cr Rob and said this is a decision that should be made by the new council.

Cr Guise spoke about the uncertainty as well and the conversation that still needs to be had with the community about what businesses will do on the floodplain given there is some depopulation of residents.

Cr Ekins said the DCP has not been updated since 2012, and that was based on modelling from over 20 years ago.

"Personally, I think we need to remove houses from the flood plain, and I'd really consider carefully the kind of commercial and industrial infrastructure we put there now," Cr Ekins said.

The votes to adopt the Draft DCP was 5/5, with Cr Hall dropping out via video link. Mayor Krieg used his deciding vote to defeat the motion.

There was a Foreshadowed motion put forward by Cr Rob, which was point three of Cr Bird's original motion, "Directs staff to consider what funding options exist to expand flood modelling beyond the urban area and across the LGA, using CSIRO data, and provide a report to the new Council that outlines these funding options, in the next term."

The vote to support the motion was unanimous.

The State Government recently announced they will hold a Drug Summit, over four days, with two days in regional NSW starting in October and the other two in Sydney in December. 

Cr Guise put forward a motion that council 'Write to Premier Chris Minns MP, the Minister for Health Ryan Park MP and Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin and request that one day of the recently announced Drug Summit be held in Lismore'. The motion was seconded by Cr Gordon, which in itself was a first for this term of council.

Lismore's large drug problem was mentioned, as was the Ice Inquiry visiting Lismore. Staff said, "This Summit can be used as a catalyst for meaningful change in order to bring long-overdue law reform and better treatment services to our region" in the business paper.

Cr Guise said, "A summit such as this would reinforce those things that our own social justice and crime prevention committee made recommendations on, and those were things around having a dedicated drug and Koori courts for our area. The issue of needing many more beds in Residential Rehabilitation Services, and particularly a detox for youth, would be well deserved."

The vote was unanimous.

South Lismore will be allowed to have Outdoor Dining along the shopfront after it was unanimously agreed to by councillors last night.

Council resolved at its November 2020 meeting to adopt the NSW Outdoor Dining Policy and accompanying User Guide for the entire local government area (LGA). Council then resolved at its August 2022 meeting to adopt the Outdoor Dining Local Street Guide; however, the Local Street Guide does not allow for outdoor dining to be located along the shop front.

In South Lismore, the parking is rear to kerb, posing a risk to dining customers. The staff recommendation was to amend the Outdoor Dining Local Street Guide to allow dining along the shopfront. Think of the South Lismore Bakery on Union Street.

An amendment was put forward by Cr Ekins, which was defeated and followed by a unanimous vote to accept the recommendation.

In other council votes, New England Lane (near Carrington Street) is to be renamed Volpato Lane after Cr Rob's motion to change was carried. The vote was against council staff's recommendation as it is "not considered to meet the guidelines for road renaming".

The change of name now goes out for Public Consultation before it can be officially changed by notifying the relevant government bodies.

The fate of the Lismore Airport was spoken about during questions about Council's Delivery program.

Cr Rob asked for an update from Chief Operating Officer Brendan Logan, who said, "From my perspective, I've come to the end of the road to where we can accept a $700,000 loss every year on an asset. We have to do something, whether it's upgrading the pavement, having 737s, whether it's becoming a training school, whether it could be a range of different things.

"I see it as a massive opportunity. We've recently recruited someone into Council reporting to me, to directly focus on that. They have KPIs about turning the airport into whatever it is, but those things will come back to this chamber. It won't be done by the operational staff. So there's now going to be a deliberate focus on making sure that 75% turns into 100%, and that is to stop carrying a $700,000 loss."

The next Lismore City Council meeting will be held in October following the election of eleven new councillors on Saturday, September 14.