A proposed two storey dual occupancy at Booker Bay goes to the local planning panel on Thursday, September 14, in part because the design requires the removal of a seven metre high Brushbox tree located within the road reserve at the front of the site.
“The applicant acknowledges that the proposed design will impact the existing street tree due to the proposed driveway location,” the council report to the panel states.
Alternative designs failed to save the tree and the proposed design with individual driveways will offer an extra off street parking space for each unit, the report states.
The submitted landscape plan proposes planting of:
• two native Frangipani at the rear boundary,
• a Banksia at the front and
• a Brushbox replacement street tree.
Council states that the trees for inside the property are satisfactory, but due to the limited available area on the road reserve, it wants either a Blueberry Ash or a Spotted Gum planted.
Submissions from the public argued that removal of the street tree will contribute to the urban heat island effect and is inconsistent with Council’s Greener Places Strategy 2021-2031 and that Booker Bay is noted as an Urban Heat Island.
Shade and privacy issues were also raised by submissions.
But the Council recommends the panel approves the development.
The report states that the proposal includes the construction of a dual occupancy on a residential lot currently containing a single dwelling, thereby doubling the dwelling potential at the subject site.
“On balance, the proposal, whilst removing a street tree, does present a lesser environmental impact when compared to land clearing often required for establishment of greenfield development sites,” the report states.
The panel meets online on Thursday, September 14 from 2pm.
The meeting is public on youtube for any people addressing the panel before the panel goes off-air to make its decisions.
