ARNSW Developments at Dural

Developments at Dural - Update 21st Dec 2008

       This is Michael Corbin VK2YC your Divisional Secretary. Well, progress at last. Last Wednesday the pad for our Shed at Dural was prepared by our excavator, Peter VK2JBP. Once more our thanks to Peter for doing this at “Mates Rates” is appreciated by your Council and I’m sure by the members.
       The concreter arrived on Thursday morning bright and early and prepared the site for the concrete. The certifier came in the early afternoon and inspected everybody’s work and gave the go ahead for the concrete to be poured.
       Friday morning at 6.00am the trucks started to arrive. It was all over by 11.15. This was the main slab. The verandah part of the job will be poured by Monday.
       The building will commence sometime in January assuming that I have been able to satisfy all the requirements set down by the certifier. This brings me to my next appeal. We need various types of Fire Extinguishers in this building. Yes, I know its steel and probably won’t burn but that does not make any difference. Exit signs are a must the certifier tells me. Don’t forget the emergency lighting he added…you will need that as well. One would think that we were building the Opera House not a simple storage shed.
       If we succeed in getting all this together we will be ready for the AGM in April. This will be stage two of what Dural was set up for in the first place. Stage three will come next…but more of that later.

      All that remains for me to do is thank all our volunteers who have worked tirelessly over the past year. The Broadcast team, without who bulletins like this would not be possible. The Dural team, another group that make this all possible. The trash and Treasure people and my fellow Councilors. And anyone else I may have left out
    
     This, of course, leaves you the members. Along with other members of the Council I wish everyone a Happy, peaceful and Holy Christmas and may 2009 bring you everything that you wish for yourselves and your family. 

Until Next time   73
Michael Corbin VK2YC  Secretary ARNSW

Now…I’ll just go and check the mailbox for that Christmas card from National thanking the team for bringing you their broadcast each week. Perhaps we will get one this year!   
 

        Finally we have the actual letter from the L&E Court detailing the acceptance of the DA for the shed, the first one apparently went astray in the post.

        We have received two quotes for the concrete slab to mount the shed on and it should be poured by Christmas. The shed itself should be constructed by the end of February. This will make it ready for our AGM in April 2009 but the final fit-out will not be complete till later in the year.

        By 2010, our Centenary Year, everything will be operational, a fitting time to show it off to the rest of the Amateur Radio fraternity in New South Wales and even beyond.

Part of a report submitted by
Michael Corbin VK2YC, ARNSW Secretary.

News regarding our proposed new "Shed" at Dural - 6th October 2008    

      The following report was presented on the VK2WI network on Sunday the 28th September 2008, outlining the current position of the shed development. ........

“ ...... This is Michael Corbin VK2YC your Divisional Secretary. On Friday 19th September the Wireless Institute of Australia NSW Division appeared in the Land & Environment Court to agree before the Court on the conditions governing the approval of our Shed/Barn on our property at Quarry Road Dural. Yes, that means we won our argument that we ought to be allowed to construct this facility, as it was, we believed, a part of what would normally occur on such a site.

         What follows is a short history of the settlement together with an article that appeared in a Local Newspaper. Appropriately this will be presented by Peter Jensen VK2AQJ, a principal in a firm called HYPARCONS PTY LTD our consultants in this matter ....................

“As members may be aware, Amateur Radio New South Wales made an application to Hornsby Shire Council to allow it to erect a Barn type storage shed nearly two years ago. This saga has now reached a successful conclusion and members may be interested in the following article published in the a local paper, the Monthly Chronicle, that is distributed in the Hornsby area.

Quote from the Chronicle:

DEPOT OR BARN? – COURT TO DECIDE
By Bill Aitken

       Since 1956 The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) has operated a ‘ham’ radio station from a property which it owns at 63 Quarry Road , Dural. The property for all intents and purposes looks like a residential home. The zoning of this area is ‘Rural BR (small holdings – rural landscapes).
       In September 2006, the WIA lodged a development application with Hornsby Council to erect a shed adjacent to the radio station to safely store records, radios, equipment, its communications trailer and a proposed communications van. In a roofed area of the proposed building, the organisation proposes to hold alfresco
meetings for its members. The proposed building is a large shed of the type seen on rural properties, in fact
most people would define it as ‘a barn’.
      However, council does not see it this way but rather as ‘a depot’ which is defined under its local environment plan (LEP) as: “A building or place for the storage (but not sale) of plant, machinery, goods or materials to be used by the owner or occupier of the building…” It is argued that while the building would be used only on an irregular basis it could operate independent of the radio station and therefore ‘depot’ is the most appropriate definition of it. Here is the rub – ‘a depot’ is a non-permissible use under the property’s zoning. The WIA argue that the radio station is ‘a community facility’ and that the shed would only be used for purposes attached to ‘the facility’ and for its members’ benefit.
     On September 3, advocate for WIA, architect and former Land & Environment Court Officer, Dr. Peter Jensen addressed Council on the matter. He asked that a decision be made on the night to save residents the expense of a court hearing set down for September 18 – 19 (after deadline).
     Due to legal advice obtained, the council opted to disregard the arguments that this ‘depot/barn’ would be an adjunct to ‘a community facility’ and gave authority for its Manager to proceed the matter to Court. After the meeting, Dr. Jensen said that should the Court find against the Council, WIA would actively pursue the council for all costs incurred since lodgment of the original DA. ..............

(Peter now continues...)

     Just a week ago, on Friday 19 September, and following furious last minute negotiations, the legal and planning teams representing ARNSW and the Hornsby Council were able to agree conditions that would allow the dispute to be settled.
     On this basis a so called “Consent Order” was presented to the Land and Environment Court which duly made an Order in the terms of the settlement agreed. The terms of this Consent Order included approval to the application to construct a storage shed or Barn as sought by ARNSW and conditions of consent of a routine nature which were seen as acceptable. Importantly, conditions proposed by the Hornsby Shire Council representatives at a late stage, that might have inhibited future activities of ARNSW on the, had been eliminated as a result of the earlier negotiations. The conditions relating to use were in the following terms:

3a... The development approved under this consent shall be used for a communications facility.
3b... There is to be no storage of files, records, equipment or vehicles on the site other than those files, records, equipment or vehicles directly related to the activity of the communications facility.

      ARNSW is now free to proceed with the project and it can be anticipated that this useful new facility will be available to members as soon as reasonably possible, building work and weather permitting.

Michael Corbin continues ...............

       Unfortunately the delay in this matter has equated to an increase in cost of $17,500, which were predominately due to increased steel prices. The next increase in the cost of steel will occur on 10th October [2008]. I have no idea what the increase in the cost of concrete will be for this project. We have been fortunate in obtaining Peter’s services at “mates Rates”. The Division will be forever grateful to Peter for this. Further I was able to engage the services of a Solicitor at a reduced cost. Both Peter and I have been dealing with this company for many years. The firm charged us a reduced fee as they recognized that we were a genuine community based organisation. On Friday we were represented in the court by a senior QC who, fortunately, did the job “Pro Bono” Again we are indebted to Peter who organised this for us.

The actual costs so far will not be revealed by this medium. They will appear in our Annual report.

In an effort to keep costs down I am appealing for the following: -
1. A concreter.
2. An electrician.
3. A group of men or women who are capable of laying a particle board floor.
4. Someone who can erect and finish gyprock.
5. A building certifier.

     If we can save on these services it might make up for the costs we have incurred storing the contents of our Parramatta office. Please call me on (02) 44781169 if you are able to help. That number again (02)44781169.

     As this project progresses I will inform you via a future Broadcast. I look forward to the day we open our new premises at Quarry Road. I have no doubt that it will be ready for our 2009 AGM! ................... “

Michael Corbin VK2YC WIA (NSW Div) / ARNSW Divisional Secretary.

Editors Note... In the above quote from the newspaper they have omitted the "(NSW Division)" from our company name, this is mentioned so that our readers don't think the items refers to WIA (National) in Victoria. The property at Dural has been owned for the last 50 years by WIA (NSW Division) trading as Amateur Radio NSW.