Hickinbotham Group gets green light to build $215 million residential development in Seaford Meadows
HICKINBOTHAM Group have been given the green light for its $215 million, 625-home Seaford Meadows housing development — but it will mean eviction for southern celebrity Gary the Goat and his posse of kangaroos.
- Residents fall in love with goat who thinks he’s a kangaroo
- Development could leave Gary homeless
- Fight to save Gary the Goat
- Hickinbotham searches for solution for Gary the Goat
- Residents up the fight to save Gary
SOUTHERN celebrity goat Gary and his mob of kangaroos have been evicted from their Commercial Rd home after the Hickinbotham Group were given the green light for its $215 million Seaford Meadows housing development.
The State Commission Assessment Panel approved the developer’s application to build on the 42ha site at the corner of Commercial and Jared roads, which would include 625 homes.
Under the building proposal, about 6ha — or 17 per cent — of the land would be kept as open space, including a wetland area with walking trails and a linear reserve connecting the development to the Onkaparinga River Recreation Park.
However, a community group says it “won’t be pulling back on (its) opposition to the development” and is investigating its next move.
Gary and his group of 20 Western Grey kangaroos would need to migrate further north to the Onkaparinga River Recreation Reserve.
Hickinbotham managing director Michael Hickinbotham said the company had been taking “expert ecology advice” on the animals’ welfare.
He did not answer the Southern Times Messenger’s questions about how they would be moved.
“We will ensure that they are protected as this development goes forward,” Mr Hickinbotham said.
“It is anticipated that civil construction work will commence in mid 2019, and the Hickinbotham Group will create a leading edge sustainable and connected coastal community which will deliver a range of quality housing options.”
The development would create about 1200 jobs over the next eight years and offer 120 local apprenticeships.
Gary the Goat’s future has been under a cloud since 2016, with some residents vowing to get in front of bulldozers to save the southern celebrity’s farmland home.
There is also a ‘Leave Gary the Goat Alone’ Facebook page, which is liked by more than 5500 users.
A Port Noarlunga South Residents Association spokeswoman said the community “was not all right” with the approval.
“We want better for the community … it is also about good development and listening to the voice of the people,” she said.
“We want the kangaroos and the goats to exist, but we don’t want a whole bunch of houses there that nobody likes.
“It is not just a small little coy issue like kangaroos and a goat, it is bigger than that.
“It includes them, the protection of the (Onkaparinga) estuary, and then we don’t want houses and run off.
“Another 600 houses is not going to add to environmental protection, it is only going to detract from it.”
The group has two months to lodge an appeal against the housing estate’s conditions in the Environment Resources and Development Court.
Onkaparinga Council voted at its meeting in April to send the panel a letter about its “disappointment in the lack of foresight” Hickinbotham had shown.
Concerns included small allotment sizes, the development’s layout, road widths, pedestrian safety and cycling links.
It asked the panel to consider deferring the application so it could work with Hickinbotham to achieve a “more suitable outcome for the community”, a panel report said.
Ward Cr Bill Jamieson, who has been working with residents, said there were “so many issues down there”, such as traffic and environmental matters.
“It’s just another huge slab of development in an area where a lot more land could have been left,” Cr Jamieson said.
Cr Jon Deakin said the approval was “very disappointing”.
“In my experience, it was the strongest argument against a development that I have ever known a council to make, and it was completely ignored by the SCAP,” Cr Deakin said.