A significant tree at Wellington Pool and a controversial plan for a childcare centre will both be on the agenda at the first Dubbo Regional Council meeting for 2019.
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The Planning, Development and Environmental Committee, Infrastructure Community and Recreation Committee and the Economic Development, Business and Corporate Committee meetings will be held on Monday night.
The agenda is relatively small, but includes a development application for a child care facility on Hennessy Drive. The facility will look after up to 100 children at a time and employ 13 staff.
A petition with more than 90 signatures from neighbours has been handed to council. It calls for the development to be rejected, based on the operating hours – which are outside the Child Care Planning Guidelines – the increase in traffic it would bring to the area and because it is against the intended character for the area.
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The proposed operating hours for the facility are 6am until 6pm. However, council staff have recommended the child care facility be given approval with operating hours from 7am until 6pm.
In a report on the development application, council said traffic to the child care centre would be split across a two hour period for both pick ups (between 7am and 9am) and drop offs (between 4pm and 6pm), due to differing working hours of the parents and carers.
Councillors will also look at a decision on the Claret Ash Tree at Wellington Memorial Pool.
After the old amenities block and the change rooms at the pool were demolished it was discovered the structural roots of the Claret Ash had penetrated the buildings.
In order to continue with the new work, a decision had to be made on the removal of the tree. If the tree is removed, the work would be delayed by one to two days, however, if the tree remains, the opening of the pool could be delayed by five to six weeks.
The tree first arose at council in December. At the time the councillors were split about if it should be kept or removed. It was decided to push back a decision until February so more information could be gathered.
The council meeting will be held in the Dubbo council chambers from 5.30pm on Monday. The meeting will also be live streamed on the Dubbo Regional Council Facebook page and website.