PlanningAlerts

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1. This proposal should only proceed after these issues have been addressed and once adequate safeguards are made to prevent adverse consequences for the community in the vicinity of this site.

   1. Contamination of land with potentially toxic materials. The application states that “there are no site contamination issues affecting the subject land nor has the site been used for any notifiable activities”. However, over several years a previous owner of this property dumped large volumes of construction waste on the site, some of which was probably in excess of one meter above natural ground level. The waste contained a wide range of construction debris and there is every possibility that toxic materials, such as asbestos, were in it. A complaint made to Council at the time revealed that no approvals had been obtained. In recent works to clear the site, hard waste was excavated and removed. As there is a strong possibility that dust or seepage from the site could contaminate the surrounding area, investigations should be carried out to determine if there is any toxic material present and, if so, it should be removed.

   2. Additional stormwater volumes. The site plan in the application shows stormwater from the back allotment being discharged in Ipswich St and, although not stated explicitly, the intent is that stormwater from the front allotment will also discharge in Ipswich St. This stormwater will flow into an open drain that passes directly through our property and others downstream. The additional stormwater will be channelled into a stormwater system that is poorly designed and fails to meet acceptable, modern design approaches to stormwater management. The system is also inadequate for the flows seen in recent extreme weather events with large volumes of overflow occurring. Concerns about this infrastructure have been raised with Council previously, because the open drain is a health and safety hazard for us and the public. In full flow the drain is highly dangerous and the drain adversely affects the amenity of our property. Recent heavy rains also caused considerable scouring of the land in Small Family Park. Therefore, additional stormwater loads should not be permitted until full investigations are carried out by hydrologists and a planned implementation of upgrades to the system made.

   3. House construction has already commenced. Despite the fact that the application was only notified by Council on 9 June 2015, construction of the house on the back allotment has commenced and is at an advanced stage already. This seems to assume approval of the application and presents significant problems in carrying out further investigations of the issues raised.

   We ask that Council defer any approval of the application until these issues are thoroughly investigated and appropriate solutions implemented. We look forward to your further advice in due course.

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