Residents vow to take fight against DA to next level
Residents have a list of issues they will take to the EPA to continue the fight against a controversial marine industry development.
Grafton
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RESIDENTS opposed to a controversial marine industrial site development on Harwood Island have not been deterred by a Clarence Valley Council development approval.
A spokeswoman for the residents, Carrol Bastian, said the residents would take their complaints to the NSW Environment Protection Agency after last week's council meeting approved the development.
While the vote was to approve a shed on the Harwood Marine site, the controversy surrounded the route trucks carrying fill to the site would take; measures to limit dust and noise; and safety.
Ms Bastian said the route would take trucks along Watts Lane, Nicholson Lane, Bewleys Lane, Beckmans Lane, and Eggins Lane to the slipway site in Carey's Lane.
The route takes heavy vehicles off the bitumen road, River Road East, which follows the river bank from near the Harwood Sugar Mill to near the Harwood Marine slipway.
However, the riverbank near the road has been undermined and its instability has limited its use by trucks.
The council approval required the developer to build sections of bitumened road in front of houses, aiming to cut down noise and dust.
Ms Bastian said these bitumen sections, which extended up to 50m past the houses, would do little to control the dust created by large trucks.
She said residents would also request safety bays be built on the roads to allow road users to avoid trucks on lanes not wide enough for two vehicles.
She said the noise and vibrations from trucks had damaged her house on River Road East.
"My house shudders every time a truck passes," she said.
"I've had the poles on my front veranda shattered and the vibrations busted the grout in the tiles in my bathroom."
Ms Bastian said said there other matters the residents would take to the EPA, including light pollution from the factory site.
Originally published as Residents vow to take fight against DA to next level
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