Appendix B - Ecological Assessment Report

7.2     NATURE CONSERVATION (KOALA) CONSERVATION PLAN AND SDAP STATE CODE 25 -
        DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND KOALA HABITAT AREAS
The South-East Queensland Koala Conservation Strategy Koala Habitat Values mapping identifies that the
site is located within a Koala Priority Area and contains Core Koala Habitat. Approximately 1,830m2 of
vegetation clearing is required within the mapped Core Koala Habitat area (above the 10m exempt
clearing around the allotment boundary).

Schedule 10, Part 10, Section 16A of the Planning Regulation 2017 states that development interfering
with koala habitat in a mapped Koala Priority Area and Koala Habitat Area is prohibited development
unless the works are considered exempted development. Schedule 24 of the Planning Regulation defines
exempted development to include (n) development that is or involves operational work that is the clearing
of native vegetation in a koala habitat area if the clearing (vii) is necessary for essential management and
is qualifying clearing.

Schedule 24 of the Planning Regulation defines essential management to include clearing native
vegetation:
(a) for establishing or maintaining a necessary firebreak to protect infrastructure, other than a fence, road
or vehicular track, if the maximum width of the firebreak is equal to 1.5 times the height of the tallest
vegetation next to the infrastructure, or 20m, whichever is the wider.
(b) for establishing a necessary fire management line, if the maximum width of the clearing for the fire
management line is 10m.

Advice has been received from SARA on several occasions that if the vegetation clearing is restricted to
that which is required to facilitate a reasonable bushfire safety setback as determined by the specialist
bushfire report, the project can be undertaken as exempted development for fire management.

For item (n)(vii) of the exempted development definition to apply, the firebreak could only be that which
is necessary (as provided by a bushfire specialist) and could not exceed a maximum width of 20m or 1.5
times the height of the tallest tree adjacent to the proposed dwelling, whichever is greater. The necessity
of a firebreak must be based on the advice of a suitably qualified person (e.g. a bushfire management
specialist) following an assessment of the site in accordance with relevant standards and guidelines.

In this instance, a bushfire hazard assessment has been prepared which requires that approximately
2,900m2 of native vegetation containing core koala habitat is necessary to be cleared to provide a
firebreak/ asset protection zone around the proposed dwelling. Therefore, if the application for the
dwelling house were to be approved, the future exempted clearing associated with the dwelling would
be limited to the area required to maintain the prescribed 26m wide Asset Protection Zone. The proposed
clearing extent complies with the above requirements, and therefore the clearing of native vegetation in
a koala habitat area is considered exempted development.




October 2021                           ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT REPORT                                  Page: 27
                                        797 Ringtail Creek Road, Pomona