The controversial proposed Port Macquarie orbital road project is expected to draw another large crowd when councillors discuss the issue at a second consecutive meeting.
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Mayor Peta Pinson, Cr Sharon Griffiths and Cr Lee Dixon have lodged a rescission motion to go before Port Macquarie-Hastings Council's meeting on Wednesday, July 17.
That motion, if supported by enough councillors, would reverse the council's June decision on the proposed orbital road project.
A motion would then be put forward in a bid to continue with a strategic business case but take the east-west link off the table, along with any realignment of Fernhill Road to a new intersection on the Oxley Highway as part of any future Port Macquarie Airport access road.
If the rescission motion fails to pass, the council will continue with its June decision to develop a strategic business case for all orbital road options.
Phil Lloyd from the Port Macquarie Better Orbital Options Alliance said they were cautiously optimistic the rescission motion would be passed.
He said council support for the proposed subsequent motion would be a "best case".
"The alternate for us is to go through another two years of complete limbo where people can't sell, or if they do, they take a significant financial hit," Mr Lloyd said.
He said there would be ongoing stress and anguish too.
Cr Pinson told the Port News while she didn't want to preempt how the other councillors would vote, she felt it was her responsibility as a community leader to ensure all avenues had been exhausted.
The rescission motion comes after the mayor displayed a show of support at the June council meeting for the alliance of action groups.
Cr Pinson, speaking at the June meeting, said our community was not opposed to road improvements but it must not come at the expense of residents and their homes, our education precinct and our wildlife.
She added it must not also come at the expense of the most vulnerable in our community whose only asset was their home.
But her bid in June to take the current proposed viable route off the table failed to win favour with the majority of councillors.
Instead, progressing to a strategic business case with all options in play was supported.
Cr Dixon, Cr Griffiths and Cr Pinson voted against the June motion.
Deputy mayor Lisa Intemann said she supported the June decision because it enabled the council to look at all options as a total decision for the short to longer term.
"That means considering all possibilities including any potential new link roads and upgrading existing roads, which is the most logical approach and is what the affected community had been asking for since at least February," she said.
Cr Intemann, speaking about the rescission motion, said she was especially astounded by the idea of abandoning some options before they had been fully considered, which would contradict the whole process of a strategic business case and could only give false comfort to the people presently affected.
The proposed orbital road planning responds to traffic congestion and the need to provide a flood-free connection to the airport.
The council's June decision to develop a strategic business case means further investigation and analysis.
The council separated the airport access road from orbital road project investigations and made it a stand alone priority for council.
The council meeting begins at 5.30pm on Wednesday, July 17 at the Burrawan Street council chambers.
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