2018-04-10 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                         10 APRIL 2018


The application proposes clearing of vegetation wholly within the Habitat Regrowth Area to
accommodate the proposed earthworks and house pad areas. No further clearing is proposed to
provide bushfire buffers or setbacks to the proposed building envelopes.
The applicant has provided a Flora & Fauna survey and assessment of the habitat values on site.
An assessment regarding the clearing of koala habitat trees on each proposed lot is summarised
in Table 2 below.
Table 2 – Koala Habitat Trees to be cleared

Lot     Koala Habitat Trees (to be      Summary:
        cleared)
1       2 x Forest red gum              The house pad will occur on partly cleared and partly
        3 x paperbarked tea tree        vegetated land with a combination of cultivated plants, weeds
                                        and native species including Melaleuca quinquenervia and
                                        Casuarina glauca. Five koala habitat trees will be cleared.
2       3 x paperbarked tea tree        The house pad will occur in a grassy clearing with planted fruit
                                        trees, weed trees and native trees (Bunya pine and Silky oak),
                                        with introduced grass and vines. Three koala habitat trees
                                        (Melaleuca quinquernervia) will be cleared for the house pad
                                        works on this lot.
3       1 x Forest red gum              The proposed house pad is mostly cleared land that contains
        4 x paperbarked tea tree        one large remnant Eucalyptus tereticornis with a dbh of
                                        1,100mm – a koala food tree of significant size and age but
                                        adjacent to Lake Weyba Drive. There are four Melaleuca trees
                                        and fruits trees with ornamental plants in this area.

The report provides a summary of the likely impact of the proposed development and ecological
significance of the site:
    “The site assessment determined that the vegetation within the proposed extent of works is
    highly modified consisting of cleared areas and cultivated garden areas, with scattered
    native remnant trees occurring in association with clusters of native regrowth.
    By locating the proposed lots in the north-eastern corner of the site, clearing requirements
    are minimised and the impacts to the Medium Value Bushland on site is minimised. The
    non-juvenile koala habitat trees requiring removal are located on the building envelope
    areas and are outside the mapped koala habitat (MSES) areas. Although mapped as Koala
    Habitat, the site is considered suboptimal habitat for koalas due to the majority of
    vegetation being paperbarked tea tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia) and the site being low
    lying.
    Generally the development footprint to create the building envelopes for each new lot is
    located in existing cleared areas with scattered trees or clumps of trees requiring clearing.
    Overall the development works i.e. earthworks, will impact 3,500m2 of area over the new
    proposed lots. This will require clearing of weeds, fruit trees, weed trees and regrowth
    Melaleuca woodland. The native vegetation within the impact areas is in clumps
    surrounded by slashed areas, with an infestation of Singapore Daisy as understorey.”
In order to minimise the impact on koala habitat, the applicant proposes to provide landscaping
and rehabilitation plans as part of a subsequent Operational Works application to undertake the
earthworks. The rehabilitation plan will provide details of the planting of replacement koala
habitat trees (three for each tree removed) on each lot outside the proposed building envelope
areas.




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