During last night's Lismore City Council meeting, councillors voted to adopt the new agritourism reforms allowing farmland to be used for ancillary tourism-related purposes, the 2023 - 2027 Delivery Program and 2023 - 2024 Operational Plan including Budget, Fees & Charges and Revenue Policy, resolve to spend $1.2 million on affordable housing and not give themselves a payrise for the next 12 months.

The meeting regressed to personal attacks and insults during the pay rise motion as the recent calm debates were overtaken with emotion as councillors lost control so the chamber resembled a schoolyard rather than eleven elected officials representing the best interest of the community.

More later, however, the end result was our councillors will not be receiving a pay rise in 2023/24 which means they each receive $24,810 per year plus super with the Mayor receiving $61,280 plus a councillor salary. This was the maximum amount allowable in July 2021.

Farmers or landholders whose land is classified RU1 Primary Production and RU2 Rural Landscape zones that want to supplement their income through agritourism from June 2023 can build and run farm stay accommodation, farm experience premises, farm gate premises and roadside stalls.

The change means the maximum number of bedrooms permissible for farm stay accommodation increases from 5 to 12 from six buildings on a minimum 15 hectares. A maximum of 20 guests can stay for a maximum of 21 days in a row.

Farm gate premises, which involve visitors interacting with produce from a farm, including through fruit picking, sales, tastings, workshops and cafes can operate seven days a week while Farm experience premises, involves visitors engaging in farm experiences, such as tours, horse riding, weddings, functions, retreats and other events.

Councillor (Cr) Adam Guise spoke against the new agritourism reforms because he sees our agricultural land coming under increasing pressure.

"It's been brought on by encroachment of housing on agricultural land which we're really facing now with flood impacts and where we house our population of the future."

Cr Guise went on to say, "I do see increased pressure to see agricultural lands essentially turn into the playhouses of the rich and the wealthy and not necessarily their best use which is really agricultural production."

This was a point that Mayor Steve Krieg disagreed with when he told a story about his first job out of school on a sheep and wheat farm in south-west Western Australia.

"Anything who knows anything to do with farming knows that income is not guaranteed. We just have to look at our macadamia industry right now with the bottom falling out of the market. The farm I am speaking of can have a terrible season with their crops and earn absolutely no money."

"They actually put three timber cottages on their property as a farm stay experience. That farm is still operating to this very day as a working farm and the cottages are still there."

There was discussion about how some landholders have let camphor laurels invade the land and how does council encourage those owners to regenerate their land.

In the end, the vote was an emphatic 8/2 with Cr Jerri Hall out of the chamber due to a conflict of interest.

In some welcome news for people struggling with housing, Lismore City Council is going to distribute 80 x $15,000 grants from the Building Better Regional Cities affordable housing fund in the following categories:

1. Existing landowners who build any of the following housing types on their land, that is, in addition to an existing dwelling.

• A secondary dwelling

• A small dual occupancy with a maximum of two bedrooms and <115m2 of floor space

• A tiny home (non-moveable)

• A manufactured home

2. First home buyers who purchases vacant land to build any new home within the Lismore Local Government Area (LGA).

3. An owner / occupier of a flood affected house in Lismore who wants to relocate their existing house to another site within the Lismore LGA (provided they do not own any other residential property).

4. A homeowner who has accepted a buyback offer from the NRRC and wants to build a new house on another site within the Lismore LGA (provided they do not own any other residential property).

5. Any registered Community Housing Provider (CHP) or Indigenous Community Housing Organisation (ICHO) who build new housing within the Lismore LGA, (excluding the projects on Council-owned land at Bristol Circuit and Cynthia Wilson Drive).

6. Any developer of new multi-dwelling housing, residential flat building or co-living housing that agrees to enter into a Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) with Council to have the housing managed by a CHP for a minimum of 15 years as affordable rental housing.

Once again Cr Guise spoke against adopting the Housing Grants recommendation by council staff because it was a bad way of addressing the housing crisis, "We're giving it away in small fragments. This is a wasted opportunity," Cr Guise said.

This vote was more emphatic with a 10/1 vote.

The 2023 - 2027 Delivery Program and 2023 - 2024 Operational Plan including Budget, Fees & Charges and Revenue Policy was finally adopted after 48 minutes of detailed questions by Cr Big Rob with the Rail Trail, Nimbin Walking Track, Lismore Solar Farm, Rous and Nesbit Park Bike Tracks, Lismore Airport, the Lismore Lantern Parade funding and more.

The most critical part of the discussion once again focused on Lismore City Council's (LCC) Asset Management Plan and its importance in the next 10 years.

John Hartley Manager Finance at LCC said that once the council's assets are restored to pre-flood condition the financial gap to fund future maintenance and renewal will be $7-8 million short each financial year. In other words, council does not generate enough income to pay for its asset renewal in the future. A problem that has been haunting LCC for well over a decade.

"The problem is maintaining our assets over the next life cycle of the asset," he said.

A discussion also, revolved around promised Federal State and Government funding for those assets to be restored.

Chief Operating Officer Brendan Logan said the feedback from government is positive but it is just a promise at the moment.

Mr Logan confirmed that all council assets are eligible for funding but they now need to write submissions to receive the money. He also stated that no project would be started until the money was assured so council didn't have any cashflow risk into the future.

Part two of the LCC June meeting begins at 6:30 tonight when the confidential session is completed as time ran out last night. This includes the two Code of Conduct matters.