NEWS:

NEW: Submissions Closed and Participant Thanks....more _
NEW: Further environmental impacts to existing trees due to Brethren Development...more _
PAST: Objection to development extension - Get your petitions in by 30th Sept 2011...more _
PAST:Amended Plan Development Application lodged with council. Objection submissions needed ...more _
PAST: Development Application meeting for Brethren Proposal Outcome Summary ...more_

Lisarow R.A.I.D.

We are a dedicated group of local residents opposing a huge and inappropriate development in MacDonalds Rd, Lisarow, Central Coast.

Recently amended plans for a massive meeting hall have been lodged with Gosford City Council. The previous DA was recommended by Council for REJECTION on many grounds. This was to be voted on at a council meeting in March. However the applicant requested more time and has lodged an amended DA.

The small section of the valley where the development is proposed consists of small acreages and is zoned for scenic / environmental protection. It is a beautiful area in a tiny valley end with a one way, lane sized access road. It is full of wildlife due to its secluded and peaceful nature with minimal people and traffic flow. It is a perfect example of the rural scenic protection zone’s objectives.

We believe the plan to build a massive meeting hall that includes an area to seat 800 people will destroy this special place and impact on the local residents of Lisarow and the surrounding areas, and upon the wildlife. The building is 53metres long and 33.6metres wide (as long as half the length of a football field or the length of a 16 storey building lying on its side). There will be a 500% addition of vehicles and humans impacting on the valley. The proposed car park is the size of a shopping centre car park with over 115 places for cars. It is to be built beside a conservation zone creek that floods.

This development would have more than 42 toilets and many urinals. It is stated that treated human waste will be irrigated onto the land. This development is to operate every day. Hours of operation listed in the DA submitted are: Saturday and Sunday 6am to 8.15pm, and Mondays to Fridays 8am to 9.15pm overall.

Residents are appalled as this will destroy the character, amenity and environment of the valley. It will impinge on the wildlife corridor along the creek. It will adversely affect all Lisarow and surrounding areas in terms of traffic, the scenic value, and run off in a flood prone area.

Lisarow Raid is urgently seeking support as objections to council must be received by council before the close of business Friday, 16 September 2011.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OBJECTION

CLICK HERE FOR PETITION TEMPLATE

Submissions to the council must clearly state the reasons for your objections and refer to the development application: number 38140/2010 Amended plan. Proposed place of Public worship Property: Lots 2 & 3 DP: 3334. No 131, 147 MacDonalds Rd Lisarow.

Objections can be submitted via letter or email to council. The Council email address for submissions is: da.submissions@gosford.nsw.gov.au

The postal address is: The General Manager, Gosford City Council. PO Box 21, Gosford NSW 2250.

If you are unable to lodge the above form of objection please lodge your opinion on the objection box on the council website. To so this go to: www.gosford.nsw.gov.au and click the following links.
_______ --> 'items on exhibit'
____________ --> 'current advertised and determined development application enquiry'.
________________ --> 'advertised DAs'
_____________________ --> 'Lisarow'

Choose both the DAs related to the 131 and 147 MacDonalds Road and click on 'make a comment' (right side of screen). If you are unable to do this perhaps you could you fill in the petition on this website. Whilst the petitions are not as effective, they are still valuable and may make the difference to the outcome.

The plans of the site are provided here:

SUBMITTED PLAN 1

SUBMITTED PLAN 2

Our Aim

To prevent an increase in traffic and associated problems to the Lisarow, Ourimbah & Holgate area.
To avoid an increase in runoff to Bangalow Creek with associated pollution and flooding to roads and properties adjacent to the creek, including Lisarow Primary school.
To avoid the status and nature of the Lisarow area being changed
To protect the extensive wildlife in the area
To preserve an area of scenic beauty for future generations
To ensure the character of the valley is not compromised
To defeat the DA which will impact enormously on our social, physical, and psychological environment and well being.

Lisarow R.A.I.D. is not in favour of the EB development. MacDonalds Road is a narrow, winding road that is already heavily used by people travelling over The Ridgeway from Erina to the Pacific Highway, Lisarow. Our part of this small valley is a quiet, scenic, rural area with a country lane running through it. Our valley boasts 2 creeks which join to become Bangalow Creek and is home to diverse flora and fauna species. Lisarow R.A.I.D. wants to see the peaceful and beautiful nature of this valley remain unspoilt, and traffic levels on this narrow and winding road kept to a minimum.

Lisarow Raid does not have an issue with the belief of any group of people. We are not a group opposed to anyone's legally entitled beliefs. Our site is related to inappropriateness of the proposed development. It is our view a structure of this size, with associated traffic and human waste, etc should be in an area where there IS a proper sewage system; town water; properly formed streets that can support large traffic flows; public transport; footpaths; street lighting; similar size structures; etc. NOT in an area without any of these facilities and where the long term residents and the local community do NOT want these facilities, nor have their rate money used to pay for them.

Proposed Plan Map

Several Aerial views can be chosen by selecting the text tabs below. Close zoom maps show detailed proposed plans for our valley. The Far zoom maps show where our valley is with respect to the Pacific Hwy.

Links to Google Maps can be found by clicking here.

Close Zoom with Boundaries + Roads

Close Zoom without Boundaries

Far View with Roads

Far View without Roads

News Items News Items

1/10/2011

NEW: Submissions Closed and Participant Thanks.

We sincerely thank all those who supported us in objecting to the amended plan for the inappropriate development of a huge meeting hall and car park in this locality.

September 30 was the final date that Council accepted objections and petitions relating to the amended DA for the meeting hall.

We anticipate it will be a number of months before any recommendation is completed by the Council. Following the recommendation the Councillors will vote on this at a Council meeting.

We will post news as it becomes available and will hopefully see all our supporters at that meeting.

10/09/2011

NEW: Further environmental impacts to existing trees due to Brethren Development.

Based on the information contained in the development application, the character of the quiet single lane rural road would be completely changed. A high and ugly retaining structure would be built and the road widened destroying 27 existing trees and replacing them with “no stopping” signs.

____

09/09/2011

PAST: INFORMATION & SAUSAGE SIZZLE, 111 MacDONALDS RD, LISAROW, SATURDAY 17th SEPT 2011 10.30am.

Lisarow Raid invites you to a sausage sizzle and information session on the proposed massive development affecting Lisarow.

This will be held "under the trees" at 111 MacDonalds Road Lisarow on SATURDAY 17th September at 10.30 am.

08/09/2011

PAST: Objection to development extension - Get your petitions in by 30th Sept 2011!!!

Lisarow Raid has obtained a 2 week extension from Council for objections to be lodged. Council will accept objection up till the close of business 30th September 2011.

24/08/2011

PAST: Meeting hall update. Amended Plan Development Application lodged with council. New Objection submissions needed ASAP:

Despite Council recommendations that the proposed meeting hall be rejected at the Council meeting in March, Councillors granted a deferment to allow the EB to address the numerous and varied problems associated with building a meeting hall of its size in this rural scenic protection area (See news item dated 2/3/2011, this website; and Council report in the agenda for the meeting 1/3/2011 on Council website).

After numerous further delays the developers have submitted Development Application No: 38140/ 2010 Amended plans for proposed place of public worship. Lots 2 & 3 DP: 3334 no 131, 147 MacDonalds Road Lisarow. Details are provided in our “news item” section. For more comprehensive information see Council website “access to information”. Details on how to access this are provided at the end of the pass/fail table below.

Submissions opposing this development need to be received by Gosford City Council before the close of business on Friday 16th September 2011. Submissions should be addressed to the General Manager, P.O Box 21 Gosford NSW 2250 or emailed to da.submissions@gosford.nsw.gov.au

Submissions are given much greater status than petitions, and can be brief. However a petition is available on this site if needed.

Following is RAID’s opinion of this DA:

Area of concern	Pass/Fail	Reasons
Size and scale of the development / character. The size and scale of the proposal is STILL excessive and incompatible with the size and scale of existing rural residential forms of development in the immediate location.	FAIL	The building is still catering for 800 people and is still the length of a 16 storey building despite cosmetic changes to the building exterior and roofline. Volume reduction is mainly in roof area. Reduction in the floor area is minimal (now 53 m by 33.6 m rather than 56 by 33 m). The car park is still catering for 115 cars. The Mormon Church in Salt Lake City is only 25% longer and wider, and seats 7000 people. Numbers attending regular services listed in the DA indicate that over a 12 week period a minimum of 11, 440 people will attend. Add to this some less regular meetings for 800, plus numbers attending quote, “other special meetings held as required to meet the needs of the congregation”.
Traffic	FAIL	Traffic is already a nightmare through Lisarow especially at peak times. Arrival time for various services coincides with peak periods of traffic. The volume of cars arriving within a short period of time will cause mass congestion of the local roads and the highways.
Retaining the 7(c2) buffer zone from the urban area and maintaining compatibility with rural residential development	FAIL	The proposal is more fitting to an urban area due to: size/scale; lack of infrastructure; vastly increased traffic; the creek habitat on site; and incompatibility with the beauty of the area and the objectives of the scenic protection zoning.
Safeguards the creek and riparian way. Questions: Can we trust that the land will absorb the septic load? Can we trust that the site will not flood or that the increased runoff due to the non absorbing car park; driveway; large roof area will not carry pollution to the creek after heavy rain?	FAIL	42 toilets and 15 urinals will pump waste into the land. The total is close to half the amount of toilet facilities at the Blue Tongue Stadium. The car park is too close to the riparian area of the creek. Quoted from a report in the submission “Is noted that the riparian zone and vegetated buffer proposed are smaller than (a minimum 50 metre development exclusion zone) in the guidelines issued by the NSW Office of Water” and the riparian zone is significant. Quote, “The vegetation along the creek is a disturbed example of an Endangered Ecological Community listed under the TSC Act (1995): Lowland Rainforest in the North Coast and Sydney Basin Bioregion. A migratory species listed under the EPBC Act (1999), Rhipidura rufifrons Rufous Fantail, was recorded using the riparian vegetation”. Consider the local University site which is often closed due to flooding despite approval of their DA.
The character and amenity of the country lane that residents wish to preserve.	FAIL	The rural scenic character of the area will be destroyed by: - a huge cut and retaining wall to widened the road to 6 metres plus a footpath. - removal of 27 trees replaced by 25 “no stopping” traffic signs. - a huge, driveway for tourist buses to enter the property.
Amenity of area preserved	FAIL	-Everyday of the week cars will attend the 800 seat meeting hall generating noise and nuisance to residents and the natural habitat. -The existing residences are modest in character and this proposal is not compatible.
Safeguard the groundwater	FAIL	The huge septic system is close to the bores (underground drinking water) Quote from a report accompanying the DA states, “It appears that any onsite wastewater system within the proposed place of public worship site would contradict the DLG (1998) 250m buffer distance from these bores. A minimum 100m buffer distance from any bore is proposed for this system” The underground water is very close to the surface in this valley- only 1.8 metres below in one spot on this property.
Any Community benefit?	FAIL	The development is for EB only so it is of no benefit to the local community. 128 submissions and 6 petitions of 217 objections show the development is not wanted. Rate payers have been footing the considerable bill for all the hours council staff have worked on these endless DA’s. The Council’s cost for postage and printing to inform those who have sent in submissions, etc would be considerable. Not a desirable use of your Council rate payments.
Responsible Carbon footprint	FAIL	Air conditioning and artificial lighting are used for the main hall of the building. Current local EB dwellings and the small meeting hall’s excessive use of lighting (24/7) is already highly intrusive to the native fauna and local residents. The considerably larger building’s lighting greatly concerns us. Artificial light is associated in firefly decline and fireflies are on that property.

To view more comprehensive details of the amended plans on the Council website,go to the council’s main page and click on “access to information” on the left hand side. Then click on the highlighted “access to information website” towards the middle of the page near the bottom. This will bring up a split page – on the left hand side click on applications and scroll down suburbs to Lisarow, then scroll down to MacDonalds Road. The documents are listed under Place of Public Worship, Lot 2 DP 3334 (dated 2010). When the site opens hover over the pictures on the left hand side and click on “list”.

02/03/2011

PAST: Development Application meeting for Brethren Proposal Outcome Summary:

At the council meeting on 1/3/2011 the applicant asked for a deferral on the decision for the development. Councillors voted 7 to 1 to allow the deferral.

Raid finds it difficult to see the value in deferment as the council report provided such a strong case for rejection based on planning principles. The many planning issues highlight the extreme unsuitability of the development on this property and in this locality.

At this stage we are unsure how long the applicant will be given. We will post more information as it becomes available.

Lisarow RAID, Exclusive Brethren, Kincumber, Green Point, Avoca, Davistown, Saratoga, Erina, Gosford, Umina, Woy Woy, Empire Bay, Bensville, Copacabana, Macmasters, Wamberal, Springfield, Point Claire, Wagstaffe, Tascot, Koolewong, St Huberts Island, Daleys Point, Orange Grove, Booker Bay, Forester Beach, Tumbi Umbi, Bateau Bay, Killcare, Ettalong, Yattalunga, North, South, East, West, Harteys Bay, Pretty Beach, Wyoming, Lisarow, Narara, Niagra Park, Kariong, Ourimbah.