Beloka Estate – which includes the olive, walnut farm and water bottling businesses of Alpine Meadows – has plans with council to develop two locations for eco tourism. One area which is located north west of the historic St James Anglican church is designed as two interlinked villages for eco tourism.

The third is on the Paupong Road and will be developed under a Community Title arrangement for staff housing for workers from Beloka Estate. The total development will consist of 340 dwellings.

The matter has been with council for several months with a decision to be made on the development at the council meeting on November 4.

Adjacent property owners were originally extremely critical of the notification process by Snowy River Shire Council but more so by the large scale nature of the proposed development.

Stephen Watson from “Beloko” in Paupong Road addressed the Snowy River Shire Council on Tuesday to voice his concerns. This is the second time that a neighbouring property owner has directly addressed council on the matter. Tony Lemerle from “Boloco South” expressed his concerns to council at a meeting last month.

Stephen and Janette Watson’s level of concern led them to engage an independent urban and regional and environmental planning company to investigate the proposed development and how it aligns with local planning guidelines. Ingham Planning Pty Ltd has presented a damning report on the proposal.

The Watson’s asked Ingham Planning to review all the public exhibition documents accompanying the DA and concluded council should reject the application due to its lack of vital information.