Part 2 of the monthly Lismore City Council meeting was over and done with in 40 minutes last night as councillors refused to support many of Councillor (Cr) Big Rob's motions.

Cr Rob's Vision Proposal, Selection of Australian Day winners, Policy Review, Use of Public Space and the Water Consumption Charge motions did not receive another councillor's support, something called a 'seconder'. So the motions are dismissed and the meeting moves forward.

Cr Rob then decided to withdraw other motions like the DA Tracking Portal and the motion of No Confidence in Mayor Steve Krieg.

When it came to that motion which said 'That council does not have confidence in Mayor Steve Krieg to continue in the role as mayor', Cr Rob knew the writing was on the wall and said, "The next one (12.4) the Mayor will have to leave the Chair, I'm happy to withdraw that because the Deputy Mayor's not here and there probably won't be a seconder anyway so let's save some time and I'll just withdraw it."

For last night's meeting, Cr and Deputy Mayor Jerri Hall and Cr Adam Guise were absent.

The outcome Cr Rob sought was 'That Mayor Steve Krieg steps down from the role as Mayor following a very poor performance to date'.

Mayor Steve Krieg said, tongue in cheek, following the withdrawal, "I am safe for another month it seems, so we can breathe a sigh of relief and move on to 12.5."

It should be noted that a publicly elected Mayor cannot be dismissed by councillors which is why Cr Rob was asking for him to step down. Mayor Krieg received 54.51% of the primary vote in the December 2021 local council election.

The Notice of Motion from Cr Rob to receive the General Manager's response as to why the previous General Manager (GM) John Walker gave all staff 3 days paid leave over the Christmas/New Year break, what was the cost and what item line did it come from in the Operational Plan will come back to the March council meeting.

Cr Rob noted the response printed in the business paper was from the Interim GM, as he called John Walker, which is not the response he was after because the Interim GM was no longer employed by Lismore City Council when this question was asked for this meeting.

However, LCC's Governance and Customer Service Manager Christine Cotterill said that the business paper was printed when John Walker was still GM so he responded. "It wouldn't be fair for the new GM, three days into the job to answer the question," Ms Cotterill said.

CR Rob withdrew the question with notice until the March meeting.

The only item on the agenda last night to receive any real debate was the amendment to planning controls to manage agritourism opportunities.

The NSW Government has introduced agritourism reforms that allow farmland to be used for a range of supplementary tourism-related purposes.

From 1 December 2022, rural landholders operating commercial farms have been able to access exempt and complying development pathways for a range of agritourism uses, including farm stay accommodation, farm experience premises, farm gate premises and roadside stalls.

From February 2023, Council’s Local Environmental Plan (LEP) has been amended to include the new agritourism definitions - farm gate premises and farm experience premises - as permissible with consent in the RU1 Primary Production zone. As such, development applications can now be lodged for these land uses.

Cr Vanessa Ekins spoke against the planning proposal amendments but said she would probably vote for them.

Cr Ekins said this was something forced upon them by the state, "I'm really concerned about the impact on our farmland and agriculture. This region has always had fertile soils and high rainfalls that have supported many thousands of people for thousands of years because it is a food bowl."

"I'm really concerned that allowing nature-based tourism and especially the wholesale nature of it, the state government has allowed here, could threaten our agricultural history and our agricultural future by increasing the value of farmland and making it more attractive to put on events and cabins and other things like that on what could be farmland."

"Bear in mind I'm not convinced that tourism is a good thing. Because it brings people who impact on our road network, and what do they actually contribute? I don't know, I think the economics don't stack up. My firm belief is that horticulture and agriculture is where our focus should be with the industries and businesses associated with that."

Cr Andrew Gordon spoke for the amendments and said he would be certainly supporting it when it came to the vote.

"I think we've got to recognise that 87% of our LGA is rural land and these guys do need the opportunity of an alternative. This is the perfect start in providing them that alternative.

"I wouldn't bet that there's one farmer out there who thinks is not a good day, they would all say this is a very good day."

Cr Rob said he'd hung out with a few farmers, "I've never seen someone work so hard from daylight to darkness, not 9 to 5, rain hail shine or snow. This is eco-tourism, it is ancillary to farming, and it doesn't stop the farm. It doesn't change the farm. The farm is the farm."

Cr Elektra Jensen reminded the chamber that the planning control is anything over 15 hectares, "So, it's not for those small acre lots."

The vote was unanimous.

The proposed amendments to Chapter 4 of the Lismore Development Control Plan (DCP) will now be placed on public exhibition for 28 days before coming back to council.

The next LCC meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 14.