Management plans for controversial West Byron development have ‘inconsistencies’, court hears

An expert ecologist has told the hearing that maps contained within the plans would need to be “reconciled” if the major subdivision goes ahead.

Swamp mahogany trees would be removed, but some would be replanted, if the Site R & D West Byron proposal if approved.

A court has heard of a disparity between management plans for a disputed Byron development.

Developer Site R & D and Byron Shire Council are ventilating issues surrounding the proposal for a 162 lot residential subdivision within the West Byron Urban Release Area, off Ewingsdale Road.

A larger-scale proposal was knocked back by the Northern Regional Planning Panel in early 2019 and the ongoing court hearing is an appeal against that decision.

The case had been heard in part before Commissioner Michael Chilcott but was scheduled to continue across three days this week.

The court has been hearing evidence from expert ecologists Dr Mark Fitzgerald and Dr David Robertson.

Lawyer for the council, Adam Seton, raised “inconsistencies” between the Koala Plan of Management and Vegetation Management Plan relating to the proposed development.

Dr Robertson agreed “maps need to be reconciled as a condition of approval” if the developer’s appeal is successful.

Tree “compensation”

The swamp mahogany is a preferred food tree for koalas.

The court heard on Tuesday “compensation methodologies” related to the removal of 265 of the 521 koala preferred food trees on the property led to a calculation of 5335 trees to be planted elsewhere on the property, while the proposal involved planting of a little over 1400 trees.

It’s understood the disparity between these figures has arisen from different compensatory planting requirements in the Byron Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management, compared to earlier Byron Shire Council plans.

“It’s not the total number of trees per se that’s of benefit to koalas,” Dr Robertson said.

“The benefit to koalas is to have healthy preferred feed trees and areas of habitat …within them.”

Dr Robertson said his understanding was that revegetation would occur in stages.

Mr Seton queried the impacts on local koalas of removing almost half of their food trees would be removed if the development was approved.

The properties (in red) which relate to the Site R & D development application for a residential subdivision in the West Byron Urban Release Area along Ewingsdale Road, close to the Byron Bay township (right).

Dr Robertson said it would take 10 years for planted swamp mahogany to be useful to koalas while Dr Fitzgerald said this was a minimum timeframe.

“Whenever you clear habitat for a threatened species there will be a risk and there will be a loss of mature trees that comes about as a result of the development,” Dr Robertson said.

But he said the 3.7 hectares of food trees on the property “might support about 0.7 koalas on average”.

“In terms of the average number of koalas it might be supporting currently on that area, I think it works out to a fraction of a koala’s habitat,” he said.

Dr Fitzgerald said, however, “the removal of 265 koala food trees is not trivial”.

The areas which relate to the Site R & D development application for a residential subdivision in the West Byron Urban Release Area along Ewingsdale Road.

He also expressed doubts about the veracity of an April, 2021 study which involved no reports of koala scats on the site.

“It was a tree survey,” he said.

The court heard the survey was designed to gather various data about the present trees while the absence of scats was only recorded “incidentally”.

Dr Robertson said it was likely “heavy use of some of these trees”, if it occurred, would have been apparent to the ecologists on the ground.

“What I take from this survey is there's no evidence of heavy utilisation of koalas on the site,” he said.

The hearing continues and the court has begun hearing evidence from traffic experts.