On threatened frogs, rare snails, small hills, public land and developers

In the Tweed Valley:

* A bunfight over the identity of a frog’s mating calls and the extinction of a rare snail population provide an insight into a long running legal dispute involving Tweed Shire Council and the shire’s biggest landowners, Gales Holdings.
The frog-and-snail imbroglio centres on just one parcel of Gales’s extensive holdings between Kingscliff and Chinderah which have been the subject of rezoning battles ever since the company acquired them seven years ago.
Conflicting claims about the frog’s identity and the fate of the snails typifies the complexities involved in a string of court cases initiated by the company in a so far failed bid to rezone the bulk of their land for a district shopping centre.

* Tweed Shire Council’s general manager, Mike Rayner, braved a crowd of more than 300 people protesting against the proposed closure and sale of part of Bay Street on Saturday to deny that any secret deals were involved.
Rally organisers invited Mr Rayner to stand on the back of a tray-top truck parked in the Chris Cunningham Park to speak to a bigger-than-expected turnout of people upset over the sale and possible loss of up to 4,000 square metres of parkland and dozens of trees.

In the Clarence Valley:

* AN impending rescission motion against the sale of the Maclean car park may be made all the more interesting with Clarence Valley Council set to decide on the expansion of the area to include more parking spaces.
Council's civil and corporate committee will tomorrow consider recommended approval of the reconfiguration of the car park and Centenary Drive, following a public consultation period.
Despite all the interest that has been aroused with the car park and possible sale to build a new supermarket complex, only four submissions were received in relation to the concept.
If accepted, the car park will increase in size by another 84 car parks, with three car and caravan vacancies to be included.
It will also signal the loss of about 240m² of green space, another gripe from those opposing the sale of the land to private developers.

In Byron Shire:

* Suellen Watson started an avalanche. When she heard that the north face of Mt Chincogan was up for sale she decided to write to The Echo and encourage the community to join together to buy this iconic piece of North Coast history.
‘I just thought there had to be something the community could do,’ says Suellen. ‘If you keep talking about it and communicating, something’s got to happen. If we can save some local history, particularly aboriginal history, then it must benefit the community.’
Now it seems the idea is beginning to take hold with missives from the vendor and Rainforest Rescue (see letters pages) encouraging locals to take the opportunity to return the mountain to the community and enable access to its walking tracks and dizzying heights.
Mt Chincogan looms large in Mullumbimby history. The town’s name is thought to derive from the language of the Bundjalung people with ‘muli’ said to mean ‘hill’. The full name has been interpreted as meaning ‘small round hill’ – a reference to the mountain beneath which the town is situated. Even the road to Mullum was carefully designed to frame Mt Chincogan on entry and exit.

How to recognise a North Coast property developer:

1. Wears jeans, a business suit or an akubra hat, depending on how he wants to present his 'image' to the community and local councillors.

2. Is observed on occasion to suddenly develop an intense interest in the future career prospects of council town planners.

3. Only believes in democratic methods if he feels the vote is going his way and throws tantrums in the local media if he doesn't get what he's after.

4. Sometimes promises potential objectors to his plans a 'sweetener', such as an all-expenses paid holiday on the quiet.

5. Brags about successfully altering development consents eg., by exchanging the promise of a couple of park benches, picnic table and a concrete path for the return of a few million dollars worth of waterfront land.

6. Secretly considers local government an impediment and often makes large political donation to state government.

7. Has a history of cultivating candidates at local government elections or encouraging a business partner/close friend to stand for election.