A proposal for development of an erosion gully rehabilitation at 66 Brooklands Road, Wallaroo will be put forward to the Yass Valley Council tonight.
The following recommendation has been made to Council.
“That conditional Development Consent be issued for Development Application.” DA200109 for erosion gully rehabilitation including the importation of up to 8,000m3 of VENM/ENM at 66 Brooklands Road, Wallaroo,”
It has drawn plenty of submissions from neighbouring property owners and those who may be affected by the proposed development. 18 in total.
The concerns are wide-ranging and extensive, however, they will mean little if Council approves the development tonight.
Public exhibition included notice to 34 neighbouring properties plus properties with direct frontage to Southwell and Wallaroo Roads on the transport route. The submission also address a development application for gully rehabilitation at 64 Brooklands Road for 42,000m3 which is currently under assessment.
A Planning Forum was held in February 2021 to provide an opportunity for submitters and the Applicant to address Council prior to further formal consideration of the proposal. Five presentations were made on this application including the Applicant. They included, Purpose of project, methodology and alternatives. Volume of material. Truck movements and transport route. Noise and amenity impacts. Road standards and safety. Road impacts and heavy haulage contributions. Consent conditions and monitoring. Material quality. Downstream water flows. Ongoing filling activities in Wallaroo.
According to Council, The purpose of the project and the adopted methodology has been questioned in the submissions, including suggestions that: “The proposed filling is unnecessary and there may be other methods to manage or rehabilitate the erosion gully. It is primarily for the purposes of disposing of development material from the ACT (i.e. financially motivated) and there are questionable environmental benefits.”
Other objections contained within the business paper and summarised by Council include, “The volume of material proposed for the erosion gully rehabilitation project has been estimated by the Applicant to be approximately 8,000m3 (12,000 tonnes) but has not been confirmed by survey.” Council stated the Applicant has indicated that they did not undertake a survey due to the relatively small scale of the project.
Truck Movements and Transport Routes were also highlighted within concerns. They stated. “The volume of material proposed for the erosion gully rehabilitation is estimated to be approximately 8,000m3 or 12,000 tonnes. The estimate for the number of trucks will vary depending on the configuration of the vehicles and their payloads. The application estimates that the total number of truck movements (i.e. deliveries in and out) would be 428, based on 27 tonne truck and dog combinations. In assessing similar applications, Council has previously adopted the assumption that all deliveries would be truck and dog combination with 33 tonne payload.
Noise and Amenity to nearby landowners was a point of concern according to the business paper. “The applicant was not requested to provide a noise assessment with hours of operation restricted to 7.00am-6.00pm Monday to Friday and no operation on Saturday, Sunday or [ACT/NSW] public holidays. Limiting the number of deliveries to maximum 20 per day.”
The remaining concerns were compiled into issues surrounding road standards and safety, including width, lack of line marking and deteriorating pavement as well as the impact on the road and the Heavy Haulage contributions. A calculation under the current plan has been made and a heavy haulage contribution of $1,467 will have to be paid.
Council noted that “Ongoing community representations have assisted in identifying a number of other filling activities that are occurring in the Wallaroo area and these are under investigation at the time of writing. This forms part of a bigger concern of ‘clean fill’ material being transported into the Yass Valley and Councillors are familiar with the issues and ongoing actions to date. These matters are outside of the direct considerations for the Development Application.”
No allegation is being made that this proposed development is not complying with all relevant laws.
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