In face of the facts, an approval of the development application (DA) for a basement car park in Brunswick Heads at Council’s meeting on 11 August can only mean we have councillors who must be members of the Flat Earth Society, because they would be ignoring the wording in the Development Control Plan (DCP) for Brunswick Heads. Section 3(d) prohibits basement car parks in the B2 and B4 zones.
Section 4.15(1) of the EPA act requires them to consider the likely impacts of the development, the suitability of the site for the development, any submissions made and the public interest.
The developer is taking no responsibility for the impact of an acknowledged rise in the ground water level with the proposed excavation 2.6m below the water table into an aquifer that is approximately 5m in thickness and has a natural flow of 1,900,000litres/week. Yet, the developer acknowledges this will make the connectivity with the surface runoff higher, i.e. flooding.
The developer has omitted the tidal influences on that groundwater table, particularly during the king tides in the summer wet and mid-winter.
Diverting part of surface water to the western side of Tweed Street only directs flooding issues onto other properties.
The principle underlying this DA is ‘out of sight, out of mind’.
The DA dismisses outright BSC’s DCP Section B4.2.1(2b) and B4.2.1(3f) which requires, where there is a ‘moderate’ trip generation from the development, as is the case here, a ‘performance appraisal’ of the adjoining intersections. Without this appraisal, the developer is circumventing any appraisal of the known safety problems at the intersection with Tweed and Park Streets affecting the movement of both vehicles and pedestrians.
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