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1. I refer to DA 2019/128 for 12 seniors living units at 6 wilton drive east maitland.

   Ps I have made no political donations to this Council.

   The Assessment Planner should request amended plans to save the developer time as this DA will be refused by the Community here !

   1) Driveway wrong location

   The driveway is positioned so that it is headed straight for those two magnificent large gum trees. There is no reason why this road and unit configuration cant be changed to allow the road servicing the units to be moved 30m down hill.

   2) Tree protection

   This Council doesn't have strong protection of significant trees like other Councils have in their LEP. last week the Maitland Mercury reported a large 200 year old Fig tree was cut down on the weekend while council were closed and council advised the objecting resident that no consent is needed. How pathetic ! I found this totally unbelievable ! Soon Maitland will have no iconic significant trees left as each developer values them as a building site only. The main gateways to Maitland lack scenic quality as they become denuded of trees and built upon. My vision in 50 years is this eastern gateway will look like a generic subdivision 1 The 20 fold increase in traffic thanks to the Hunter Expressway will make it a main gateway and MCC has no plan for this ? we should value the environment more ! We need landmark trees not a few replanted liquid ambers on the verge !

   Other Councils would make the developer build a roundabout around the tree and make it a feature. (Great lakes Council near Mcdonalds approved a sub and protected a fig) Yes I do realise the trees are not on the property and the developer is either ignorant of where his development may extend out, so I am just making sure he and all the residents in Rathluba are aware of what Council happen. The developer may want the road to extend over the trees and build more units, so I am suggesting this is not appropriate from a town planning point of view in protecting scenic amenity ! This is a consideration under the EP&A Act 1979 when assessing a DA. The developer has alternative ways of designing this development and that must be considered.

   It appears two other trees have disappeared prob when everyone went to work. Do we want a natural environment in Maitland or a generic subdivision that looks like another suburb in Sydney ?

   Please show some tenacity and strength when refusing this DA. I am happy to have Seniors Housing there just not the way they have designed it.

   Eagles are nesting in that tree and a year ago we had 30 eagles flying around this suburb then the DA for that stupid low cost manufactured estate next to the Tip came in and they all but disappeared.

   3) Design

   The other issue I have noticed based on the plans provided is the plain design with very little architectural merit. What a mundane design unit 5 and 6 are facing Wilton Drive ! It also looks like a government building ! They are providing absolutely no landscaping to the main road of Wilton Drive and I wlll be interested to see if Council actually has a landscape plan for this development ?

   4) Private Open Space

   The POS for a dwelling in the front setback to Wilton drive shouldn't be allowed given how noisy that road gets. The only way they can make that private is by having a 1.8m high fence on the main street frontage. I thought the fencing guidelines required smaller fences facing the main street ? This will be out of character with other dwelling frontage treatments and streetscape will in effect create an abrupt hard solid fence buffer with no softening of landscaping visible. Go to Blacktown or Doonside and see the tunnel effect of high fences !

   the developer needs to make the elderly part of the community instead of fencing them in as they will be unable to talk to neighbours over a 1.8m high fence, and are unlikely to walk 200 m around the road to have a chat !. The more I think of this development the more I think how poorly it was planned and how generic it is. They need a proper town planner showing them how to design and make the place liveable for all people involved !

   If GHT Holding P/L and Land Development Consultants think this is a great planning then they seriously ask themselves would they like this development if they lived here ? So go get a planner that can design in accordance with the environment as it really doesn't cost much to fix this problem !

   5) Councillors need to call this up and have a good look at it !

   Once again the Rathluba Community have to waste time telling a developer and planning consultants how to be mindful when developing !

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