Not properly made submission (late) M D'Addario & A Kadacik MCU12/0184

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BlackFellows creek for instance is one of the last remaining creeks in the region to still
have platypus. This clean creek runs through our property and is an integral and beautiful
part of our daily lives. We are dedicated to improving and maintaining it’s health.

Visitors often comment on how quaint and special Ridgewood is with it’s majestic tall
gumtrees, quiet pretty country roads, valley views and clear river. At night, the starry skies
are breathtaking.


The natural beauty of Ridgewood deserves to continue to be enjoyed, protected and
supported by its residents and the broader community, not disregarded and damaged.

We are following through with the environmental initiatives recommended by
you the council.

The large scale farming enterprise proposed by the applicant is in direct conflict with the
sustainable principles and practices of the area and council planning. And stands to do
significant damage to our local environment and also affect, with the potential to destroy,
the appeal and effectiveness of the more sensitive and sustainable low impact business
operations in the area.

The applicant’s proposal does not offer a win-win outcome for the residents of Ridgewood
and the broader community. It is clearly a win for one resident and a huge lose for
everyone else and the environment of the area. This kind of outcome is therefore
unsustainable and not in keeping with the South East Queensland Regional Plan
2009-2031.

We trusted that low impact zoning of properties in our area, by our council, would not be
altered just because of one person’s desires. We trusted council would honour its own
planning guidelines. Those development parameters are there for a reason: to
protect. They need to be respected and upheld, and only modified after extensive public
consultation and acceptance, otherwise they mean nothing. Most residents of Ridgewood
live in the area for the reasons that are now seriously under threat from this development.


Many of the submissions have highlighted important concerns we share regarding the
environmental and economic consequences of the applicant’s proposal. We wish to
highlight also the very real social and emotional consequences of such a proposal.

Imagine choosing to live in a quiet area of Cooroy, on a small rural road, to then be
subjected to living with 4-5 semi-trailers rattling by your place a day or with the daily
stench that a Poultry Farm such as this creates? Imagine the emotional and physical
impact of living in ~.once beautiful, peaceful and unique area made unsustainable,
stressful and unhealthy, with odour, noise, environmental and visual pollution?


We were told by a friend who lived near a poultry farm operation in NSW, similar in size to
that proposed by the applicant, that the stench was horrendous and travelled on the
breeze for kilometres. She said the locals referred to the odour as "the smell of death"
because it was so bad. The wind cannot be controlled. The wind-borne odour can easily
come over the ridges and settle in our nearby valleys where many of us reside. We do not
deserve such a daily reality.

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     And yes we are emotional about this situation. You have our quality of life, our
     nature, and the intrinsic value of the area, which we care for so passionately, in
     your hands.

     The number one issue affecting many people in the general community is chronic stress.
     Research shows it is the greatest contributor to health issues. You just have to look at the
     emotional and physical harm done to people who were part of the Traveston Dam tragedy
     to see the very real effects of distress and stress relating to the threat of losing a place of
     natural beauty that is known as home.


     Currently, as residents of Ridgewood, we feel safe to ride our horses, bikes and walk our
     dogs on our local rural roads and we have a bus stop that sees many children picked up
     and dropped off every morning and afternoon.


     This sense of safety, freedom and connection to our local countryside is an
     integral part of our rural community lifestyle. It contributes to our wellbeing. It
     contributes to our sense of social connection and interaction with our
     environment and neighbours. It is a ’way of being’ that ought to be repeated
     not deleted.


     However, with the applicant’s proposal, our narrow little country roads would see semi
     trailers hurtling along them, turning tight corners, along with an expected increase in
     traffic to and from the applicant’s property of additional poultry farm staff and associated
     services.


     It puts us all at greater risk and creates danger, fear, stress and restriction, where there
     has been safety, freedom and tranquility.


     We are most concerned at the lack of public cpnsultation with a proposal that obviously
     has far reaching ramifications for not only Ridgewood residents but the broader
     Community.

     We are very disappointed that there has been little consideration regarding how such a
     proposal could impact on surrounding homes and residential businesses in the area. The
     value of properties in Ridgewood is reflected significantly in the sustainable and attractive
     natural qualities of the area. Losing these qualities will see the value of surrounding
     properties affected.

     Changing the status of a large property from low impact to high intensive farming, when it
     is so close to many surrounding low impact properties that it will negatively effect, is to
     render the status of all those surrounding properties meaningless. And it sets a
     precedence for other low impact areas to be re-assessed for intensive farming and
     ultimately abandoned as Land for Wildlife.

     Why would Council consider agreeing to such an outcome in an era of sustainability and
     protection? Why would you consider agreeing to a scenario that can tear down the hard
     work members of your community have worked so tirelessly to create with your support?

     The majority of Ridgewood residents are an example of ordinary people successfully
     improving and caring for our environment. We ought to be applauded and supported for
     that, not overlooked and disregarded.

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    Please treat residents doing good with due respect, and consider our needs too.


    SUMMARY OF OUR CONCERNS:


     1.     The Proposal to change of material use on farm from low impact rural use to
            intensive broiler chicken farming.
     2.     The request to level ridge tops to construct 8 x 100 metre x 16 metre sheds
            housing 35,000 broiler chickens for a 6 week growing cycle, rearing 1.5 million
            birds annually.
     3.     The establishment of 40 x 50,000 litre water tanks
     4.     Approximately 4-5 semi trailers (including 19 mtre B doubles) per day and other
            associated vehicles travelling on small sealed and unsealed country roads posing
            significant dangers and destruction.
     5.     Birds being secured in the sheds with no access to the outdoors to the end of their
            life.
     6.     BlackFellows creek and its fragile environment and wildlife, such as the endangered
            platypus, bearing the brunt of pOlluted poisonous runoff that will be created
            particularly during peak rainfall times.
     7.     The proposal being completely out of scale with the area and the associated
            burdens it will create for Ridgewood.
     8.     The associated Noise, Odour, Visual and environmental-water pollution that will be
            generated by this proposal.
     9.     The venture is likely to involve fertiliser production and sale yet this is not
            acknowledged in the proposal. Fertiliser Production is not aligned with existing land
            use in the area.
      10. The Proposal is in conflict with existing plans, including the SEQ Regional Plan
            2009-2031
      11.   Poultry operations are typically 24-hour operations light pollution and ventilation
                                                                -




          noise from the sheds will disturb residents for many kilometres.
      12. Increased virulence in pathogens, especially in high-intensity poultry farming,
          causes health issues that can have impacts on a global scale. (H5Nl,Bird flu). This

          development does not address in any way the impact on the local community of an
          outbreak of such diseases and no disaster management plan is in place.
      13. This proposal is clearly not a win-win. It is a win-lose.
      14. Threat to businesses in the area that support and rely on principles of sustainability
          environmental care and environmental beauty.
      15. Threat to value of properties whose appeal is reliant on the natural beauty and
          sustainability of Ridgewood.
      16. The needs of the majority of residents in Ridgewood who are committed to the
          initiatives of Council environmental care are being overlooked and disregarded.
      17. The very quality of lifestyle is at risk for surrounding Ridgewood residents.


    In Conclusion
    We do not consider the proposal of the applicant to be in keeping with the spirit and
    practice of the majority of Ridgewood residents, or with council planning and so we urge
    council to uphold the existing low impact status of the applicant’s property, in line with
                 properties In                                    In it’s entirety.
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      ichela D’Ad  10 and
                               ~      Kadaclk
    Residents of Ridgewood
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