Not properly made submission (late) Tony Enchelmaier MCU12/0184

Subject: bm BCS 1192 FYI DIV 12 MCU12/0184 Notice of Submission Tony Enchelmaier
From: Jack Lewis
Date: 2013-08-07T22:46:14+00:00
To: Internet Mailbox Sunshine Coast Regional Council

Please record as a submission to MCU12/0184

 

 

Jack Lewis | Development Planner
Planning Assessment Branch - North I Tewantin Office
Regional Strategy & Planning I Sunshine Coast Regional Council

Phone: (07) 5449 5183
Email: [email protected]
Mail: Locked Bag 72, Sunshine Coast Mail Centre, Qld 4560 

 

From: Cr Tony Wellington - Tewantin Office 
Sent: Thursday, 8 August 2013 8:43 AM
To: Jack Lewis
Subject: Fwd: URGENT: MCU12/0184 136 Top Forestry Rd Ridgewood - Animal Husbandry type 2 Poultry Farm - W Donald Milligan Pty Ltd". 

 

First of 3 submissions from the Enchelmaier clan.

Cr TONY WELLINGTON

Division 12 Councillor | Sunshine Coast Regional Council

 

Phone:  07 5449 5244

Email:   [email protected]

Web:     www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au

Mail:      Locked Bag 72 Sunshine Coast Mail Centre Qld 4560 


Begin forwarded message:

	From: Tony and Stacey <[email protected]>
	Date: 7 August 2013 9:23:31 PM AEST
	To: <[email protected]>
	Subject: URGENT: MCU12/0184 136 Top Forestry Rd Ridgewood - Animal Husbandry type 2 Poultry Farm - W Donald Milligan Pty Ltd". 

	Dear Tony, 

	 

	As concerned residents of Ridgewood, we wish to submit our objection to Development application, MCU12/0184, relating to W Donald Milligan Pty Ltd, 136 Top Forestry Rd Ridgewood - Animal Husbandry Type 2 Poultry Farm.

	 

	Our objection relates to information provided by the applicant and the submitters, and our own research and experience.

	 

	We believe this development will create irreversible environmental, economic and social harm to our Ridgewood Community.

	 

	Ridgewood is primarily a community of like minded people wishing to honour the principles of sustainability and wildlife protection and support. Most of us have Land for Wildlife Accreditation and are passionate about protecting and enhancing the beauty and wellbeing of the area. It is why many of us live in Ridgewood. 

	 

	Ridgewood is recognised for its natural beauty and charm.

	 

	Historically much has been done by residents to improve and care for the area over the past twenty years and this commitment continues with newer residents also. 

	 

	Within this culture and practice of sustainability, there are also residents who conduct healing retreats and have businesses offering healing and ‘eco friendly’ services on their properties. The local wildlife and beauty of the river and surrounds is core to the integrity, delivery and success of these businesses. These businesses give others the opportunity to enjoy, and benefit from, the beauty of Ridgewood.

	 

	One of the main reasons we moved into the area was because of the obvious care and passion residents had for Ridgewood. We wanted to be part of a neighborhood doing good for local wildlife and the Land. 

	 

	We have committed to caring for our property in significant ways over the coming years with an intention to also seek support from council through its Land For Wildlife Habitat Restoration Incentives and other helpful initiatives provided by council.

	 

	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 wants. 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 negative 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 a 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. 

	 

	And yes we are emotional about this situation. You have our quality of life, our nature 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 a great increase in traffic to and from the applicant’s property of additional poultry farm staff and associated services. 

	 

	It puts us all at great risk and creates danger, fear, stress and a sense of loss and restriction, where there has been safety, tranquility and joy.

	 

	We are greatly concerned at the lack of public consultation with a proposal that obviously has far reaching ramifications for not only Ridgewood residents but the broader Cooroy 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 most definitely 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 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, repair and protection? Why would you consider agreeing to a scenario that can tear down all 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.

	 

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

	 

	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 surrounding properties in Ridgewood, rejecting the proposal in it’s entirety. 

	 

	Regards,

	 

	Tony Enchelmaier

	77 King Parrot Lane,

	Ridgewood.

	0406676679