ANGRY Mannering Park ratepayers are concerned Wyong Shire Council is trying to sneak its draft climate change policy into being without appropriate community consultation.
They are calling for council to extend the policy's public exhibition period.
Council-produced maps project climate-change induced sea level rises will dramatically impact properties in Mannering Park, a peninsula on Lake Macquarie that includes many waterfront homes.
Nearby Rutleys Road is predicted to be completely under water due to sea-level rises.
Due to the severe predicted impacts on local properties, Mannering Park residents say council should have consulted them and all Shire ratepayers directly before going public with the maps.
Council put the draft policy and maps on public exhibition just before Christmas, after Mannering Park's final precinct committee meeting of 2009, and will remove it on February 15, the date the committee is due to hold its first meeting in 2010.
Mannering Park real estate proprietor Tracey Maguire said the timing could not have been worse because many people were away on holidays and ratepayer representative groups were in recess.
"I think council has done this under the radar," Ms Maguire said.
Wyong Shire's former chief engineer, Mannering Park precinct committee president Rob Regnis, said it was common knowledge at all levels of government that "if you want anything done and you don't want people to know about it, you do it around Christmas".
"If they were fair dinkum about it [consulting the community], they would have sent a copy out to the precinct committees and said, 'Please comment about it'," he said.
Mr Regnis said the Mannering Park precinct committee was established in July last year to be a conduit between council and the community.
"The reason why it was formed was because the council was not consulting with the community when they did anything," he said.
Mr Regnis said the severity and prevalence of the projected impacts of sea-level rises warranted council contacting each rate payer individually, as they do with rates notices.
Long-time resident Neil Wynn said: "I believe this is council covering their backsides [from potential litigation]."
Mr Wynn also questioned the validity of predicting lake level rises of 0.4 and 0.9 metres by 2050 and 2110 respectively when it appeared the lake level had remained static over the past 70-plus years.
"I have spoken to my father William Wynn, 95, who has owned his waterfront property since 1934 and he has not seen any tidal difference in that time," he said.
A council spokesperson said the draft had been on exhibition since December and would remain so until February 15.
"This exhibition period is to give everyone a chance to comment on it," he said.
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