929 Blue Knob Rd, Blue Knob 2480 NSW

It is good to see this housing development is now following council planning regulations and no more add hoc, unapproved structures are being built in riparian areas. The neighbours ask that the dwelling proposed at site 7 be low impact visually and have a vegetation buffer put in place prior to building commencing. The original DA approval stated that neighbours to the North-East would be buffered from the houses and that has never happened. Although there appears to be vegetation between the houses on a map the fact is, it is at a much lower elevation and provides no visual or noise buffer at all, particularly 977 blue-knob road. The neighbours to the North-East 989,977,1035,1053 blue knob road all manage their properties for biodiversity and the impacts of continual building, dog ownership, vegetation removal, noise and traffic has had ongoing negative impacts. In fact, four koalas in the direct area have recently been taken to Friends of the Koala and euthanised due to dog attack. Council can not do anything about this community owning dogs but they can consider the sensitive, biodiverse area they approve development in and refuse to allow removal of primary koala feed trees (Primary feed trees were removed when the last house was built and that has effected threatened species (koalas seen running on the ground)which is not mentioned on councils DA tracker site. Council can also protect critical habitats such as riparian areas. The neighbours ask that council considers the natural environment if approving this dwelling and ensures a significant noise and visual vegetation buffer exists before building commences. The building footprint should have as little impact on amenities and the natural environment as possible eg one story structure. Council should also have site 7 surveyed before allowing this dwelling to proceed as there has been prior disputes over the dividing fence which needed surveying to resolve. To resolve the dispute and reclaim their land, was a large personal expense to the freehold landowner. The survey found that the boundary fence ended up very close to an existing dwelling (site 11) on the community and no-one wants this experience relived at site 7

In the section 'Waste and Stormwater Disposal' of the 'Statement of environmental effects - Bedford + Daley.Statement-of-Environmental-Effects--Minor-Development.pdf - 929 BLUE KNOB ROAD BLUE KNOB 2480', it states that " Existing on-site sewer system has been installed by previous land owners." Has this system been inspected and approved by council also is it sufficient to prevent leakage into the environment and near by waterways?

The statement of environmental effects document (SEE) has not been properly considered by council and in some cases is misleading.

Context and Setting (page 4)
ticks the box that says it is not out of context with the surrounding area or inconsistent with surrounding landuses. The whole community is out of context with the surrounding area which has contiguous vegetation adjoining the rainforests of Nightcap National Park and has a shared boundary with a Wildlife Refuge and properties managed for Bio-diversity .

Privacy, views and overshadowing (page 4)
1.ticks the box saying there will be no privacy issues with adjoining neighbours, It will directly affect the freehold neighbour ( lot1 ) and be in line of sight with no buffer vegetation.
2. ticks the box saying no acoustic issues with adjoining properties. The noise from this community to adjoining neighbours is constant. Noise is generated from pumps, generators, cars, dogs, traffic, mowers, earth moving equipment, machinery, radios etc Every time a new house goes in the noise is amplified. An established vegetation buffer for the neighbours to the north and east is required and was part of the original DA approval requirements.

Access, traffic and utilities:
Every new house built creates more traffic and more noise. Blue Knob road is inadequate to cope with more traffic and is in a degraded state already particularly where the communities access point meets Blue-Knob road.

Environmental Issues
• Could council please clarify what sewerage system the proposed house will have in place. The DA application says it was installed by the previous owners. Is it approved by council?
• Is it a septic system or a composting toilet?
• The house plans show that the house site is above a sloping terrace system that flows into a small dam. This dam, in turn flows into a permanent waterway, marked on a topographic map not ephemeral, which in turn flows into another dam downstream on the community. This dam overflows directly onto the neighbours property (lot 4) which then forms a permanent waterway flowing into Websters creek. Websters creek is known habitat for Mixophyes iteratus and fleayi which are endangered under the BC Act,2016 and the EPBC Act,1999.
• Websters creek is also known habitat for many threatened species notably the Grey-crowned babblers (Steve Millage, BioNEt,2012) but also Glossy -black cockatoos, Rose-crowned fruit dove, Wompoo fruit-dove, Marbled Frogmouth, koala, Grey-headed flying fox, Golden-tipped bat and many more.
• How will council be addressing effluent entering these sensitive waterways (particularly during flooding events) and what measures are council undertaking to protect our threatened species?
• How will the council and the community address run-off over flowing onto the neighbours properties particularly lots 1 and 4? What measures will be put in place to address this prior to the house being built?
• This run-off overflow has been an issue for years but has come to head now that the land has been cleared for so many houses.

Flora and fauna
Is the development likely to have any impact on threatened species or native habitat? The box is ticked no in the SEE.
Dogs on this community have been impacting koala movement and four koalas have had to be euthanised due to dog attack in the local area. One koala was found dead directly adjacent to where a community member owns a dog and one on the adjacent Wildlife refuge (found with dog puncture wounds). Please see above about impacts on Threatened species and the waterways
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Waste and Stormwater Disposal
Could council confirm what sewerage system is in place and whether it is council approved?

Other Issues
• Could council please provide to the neighbours and the community the original surveyors documents that must have been completed before the original DA for the housing development was approved. By providing these documents any ambiguity about where the boundary fence is located will be removed.
• It is important for the members of the community, new and otherwise, to realise that existing fence lines are not boundary fence lines. These fence lines were built for running and containing cattle not delineating a dividing fence between properties.
• The house plans indicate some vegetation landscaping to go ahead around the house site but none towards the North to buffer the noise to the neighbours. The original DA vegetation buffer requirements were specifically put in the approval to buffer the northern neighbours. Every house that gets built on this community faces north (which is why the requirements were put in place) and yet none of the houses ever plant trees in the northern aspect. Wouldn’t it be better to put in place medium level vegetation during the planning stage rather than once again leave it to the neighbours to have to buffer?