Planning Panel urged to refuse 49-home development application for Mt Colah
An independent consultant has recommended that the Hornsby Local Planning Panel refuse a 49-home development application proposed for Mt Colah over environmental concerns.
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High bushfire risk and loss of native vegetation are just some of the issues that an independent consultant found with a development application proposed for Mt Colah.
Consulting agency Nexus Environmental Planning has recommended that the Hornsby Local Planning Panel refuse an application to transform bushland on Chestnut Rd in Mt Colah into 49 housing lots and a drainage reserve after it assessed a large number of environmental issues with the proposal.
Lisa Szabo of the Mt Colah Residents Action Group said that local residents were “unanimously” in agreement with the consultant’s findings.
“We have lived in Mount Colah for nearly 30 years. Members of Mt Colah Residents Action Group have lived in the area ranging from a few years up to 40 years or more,” Ms Szabo said.
“Mount Colah RAG is unanimous in our opposition to the DA for Chestnut Rd. While we acknowledge the site has been zoned residential, the DA is proposing major overdevelopment of this bushland site.
“The impact on the environment, loss of most of the trees and native bush on the site and the destruction of the riparian zone are just some of the issues we all have serious objection to. We all completely agree with the independent consultant’s recommendation.”
According to the independent assessment, the proposal “fails to identify and retain significant vegetation on the site … fails to demonstrate that the development will not result in a significant effect on threatened species, populations or ecological communities (and) will result in unacceptable impact on the biodiversity and habitat in the area.”
As the proposed development site has a history of mining, illegal dumping and water pollution, the assessment determined that “the extent of contamination and the remediation necessary has not been adequately addressed to enable certainty the land can be remediated for the proposed residential use.”
The study also found issues in regards to the area’s high bushfire risk, ultimately concluding that “the proposal is not considered to be in the public interest.”
The original plans said that the developer “will provide some rehabilitation of the land”, including planting 150 trees to replace those removed by the development.
The application is set to be determined at Wednesday’s Hornsby Local Planning Panel meeting.