THAGOONA residents have taken a stand against a proposal for higher density development through koala habitat on a series of properties around 934 Karrabin Rosewood Rd.
Council received 189 submissions largely against a proposal for two to five-storey units on farming land adjacent to the Thagoona rail station, seeking preliminary approval to reconfigure six lots into 20.
The application was referred to an Independent Decision Review Panel public forum last week along with two other development applications, the multi-storey unit development at WM Hughes Rd at North Ipswich as reported in last week’s Local Ipswich News and one in Ebbw Vale (story below).
Thagoona resident Nikki Gough spoke of the threat to the surrounding rural lifestyle, increased traffic, loss of koala habitat and clearing in the middle of the site allegedly occurring in September 2022, 15 months before the development application was submitted.
Residents were advised of bushfire hazard reduction, weed removal, tree clearing and a controlled burn just before the alleged clearing.
The zoning on the development site is Emerging Community/Environmental Management, but Council has advised exemptions were available to allow a one-off clearing of up to 500sqm.
“Most surrounding properties to the proposed development area are at least one acre lots,” Ms Gough said.
“Thagoona has much native vegetation and is mostly a rural residential area.
“Koalas are present on the subject property and a large portion of the subject land is core koala habitat.
“Growth should be considered carefully and not imposed excessively, especially where fundamental infrastructure needs remain unmet.”
Western corridor resident Sue Dunne said the proposed development would bring significant additional traffic, but the proposal lacked required upgrades, pedestrian connectivity or emergency access planning.
She said the area was affected by flood and storm water and the proposal did not give residents confidence that downstream impacts would be safely managed.
“In its current form, this application … risks undermining resilience, community cohesion and rural character, all while failing to deliver meaningful social connection and infrastructure sequencing,” Ms Dunne said.
“Our growing area deserves development that builds community, not merely builds houses.”
The developer’s consultant Boyd Sargent from Sargent Planning said the proposal followed the Walloon Thagoona Concept Masterplan which outlined land uses intended for the site.
Mr Sargent said the proposal had been adapted to respect community concerns and had a central open space corridor and roads, open space or existing low density proposals to the majority of adjoining properties.
“In terms of height, the development shows in the provisions of the existing planning scheme the ability to go to three-storey development. We have what we believe is a better reflection of those heights over the site,” he said.
“We have proposed three allotments that have a maximum height of up to five storeys.
“This relates back to the changes that have occurred to our proposal in responding to the constraints. We’ve got a much smaller development footprint and we still have to achieve various other provisions of the planning scheme, specifically as it relates to density.
“The western growth corridor is identified through the Walloon Thagoona Land Use Concept Plan as being a major growth corridor.”
That growth corridor has us up to 75 dwellings to the hectare, particularly around the train station.
“Our provisions … seek to enable a greater height in specific locations to enable us to respond with differing housing types in those specific areas,” Mr Sargent said.
