Material sent by the Council
The following files were sent to us by Mr Dave Walker, the Council's General Manager. This includes the material sent to the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, and a number of other interesting documents.
The Council's final Proposal for Hill Road Reserve
Passed by Council on 22 November 2011 and sent to the Department of Planning and Infrastructure.
The Council's map of who notifications were sent to
See if you can find your house!
The letter sent to residents according to the map above
If you live nearby, did you receive this?
The Council's Community Engagement Policy
How the Community is supposed to be consulted for a proposal like this.
Part one of the Council's 2007 strategy for recreation areas
Executive Summary
Part two of the Council's 2007 strategy for recreation areas
Research and Reference Material
Part three of the Council's 2007 strategy for recreation areas
Implimentation Plan
Other Council documents
Below are links to external copies of the current Proposal and some related documents.
The current Proposal passed by Council
This was passed by Council on 22 November 2011.
It's Agenda Item 2, beginning on page 4, and it's about 43 pages long.
The Original Proposal
This was passed by Council on 14 December 2010 and "recommends a planning proposal be prepared" to rezone the site. Not much of the substance changes between this and the final Proposal.
It's Agenda Item 23, beginning on page 103, and it's aboout 34 pages long.
This meeting also included the report from GHD, who made an assessment of the site for the Council in 2009. GHD were specifically comissioned to look for development opportunities for the Council, and this is the primary purpose of the report. A careful read reveals that GHD only identify a very small area on the site that is suitable for development.
Click here to see the GHD's 2009 report to the Council.
The Council's 2003 Recreation Needs Study for West Pennat Hills Valley
Here is the Council's earlier plan for recreation in our Community. It lists the site as as park and bushland (noting the significance of the vegetation) and gives a tentative timeline to improve it's recreational value. Like the 2007 study above, it makes no reference to any plan to sell off the land for development - for most of the last decade, the Council's public strategy has been to retain and preserve this land for the Community.
The Hill Road Reserve
A good part of the Reserve contains Blue Gum High Forest. This is recognised as Highly Critically Endanged, and there is a real chance this ecosystem will soon be extinct.
The Council's Proposal will clear a good deal of the Forest from the site. Although the Council state they will remove 4,379 square meters of forest, the Office of Environment and Heritage estimate this will be more like 6,000 square meters.
There are no cases where this type of forest has been sucessfully regenerated in the short to medium term.