No more white sand and crystal clear waters in Huskisson if this zombie development is brought to life, says Our Future Shoalhaven (OFS).
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The community group is opposing the construction of a 32 apartment development situated near the banks of Moona Moona Creek in Huskisson.
OFS objects to the "creeping destruction" of the environment and considers this project to hold a "zombie development application" as it was approved a decade ago and brought back to life through a process of proving construction had begun.
The site, located at 4 Murdoch Street, Huskisson would include a swimming pool and basement car park and sits between national park and a marine sanctuary waterway.
Their main concerns include the removal of endangered Bangalay Sand Forest, the risk posed to protected fish habitat and the harm that acid sulphate soil runoff could have on the fragile mangroves which are key to Jervis Bay's famous white sands and clear waters.
They say the site which is 33 metres away from the creek, ignores the first goal of the NSW Coastal Policy as there would not be a 40-metre buffer zone between it and the creek.
Normally development applications expire after five years unless there is sufficient proof of commencement within that time frame. If there is sufficient proof which meets the standards of the time, then there is no expiry.
The site received development approval in 2011 and, according to the community group, was able to avoid having its approval expire through inconsequential engineering reports, which would be unsatisfactory in meeting criteria if assessed against today's standards.
However, Councillor Greg Watson said council staff followed the rules of the time when the development consent was issued and the surveys constituted a commencement.
It doesn't matter what allegations any of us might make about it and what might happen and what might not happen. There's nothing any of us can do about it.
- Councillor Greg Watson
Sue Tolley is a local resident and a member of Our Future Shoalhaven and disagreed with Cr Watson's sentiment.
She said many people in the community are "jumping up and down" in opposition as construction could be imminent.
OFS believed the recent community action contributed to the withdrawal of an adjacent $32 million motel development application, when "up popped a real estate sign saying block for sale with approval for 32 apartments, a swimming pool and 64 car basement car park," she said.
I mean really? A basement car park in a flood-prone area.
- Local resident and OFS member Sue Tolley
The adjacent withdrawn development application, on the site of 3 Moona Road, had over 150 submissions from the public and was withdrawn by the applicant due to public outcry and subsequent requests from council for more studies, according to Ms Tolley.
However, Ms Tolley said she was fearful the proposed Moona Road development would rear its head again.
In submissions to council, members of the community took issue with the Moona Road site being built on sensitive flood-prone land (and its flood study did not factor in rising sea levels due to climate change), possibly on Aboriginal middens as well as its immense local impact.
Ms Tolley believed those same issues would be present on the zombie DA Murdoch Street site which is even closer to the creek, classified as a highly sensitive fish habitat by NSW Department of Primary Industries.
And a lack of transparency in the certification process was making the zombie DA situation more difficult, said Ms Tolley.
"It appears the owners are going to get their own private certifier. And if they do, that makes things very hard because council then has nothing more to do with it." she said.
"And if we, the community, have any complaints, we have to take them to the developer's private certifier.
"It is us who has to check that the private certifier is following a 35-page consolidated conditions document - 35 pages of what they must and mustn't do."
The original applicant, Brookwood Holdings, sold the development-ready property to the Maltese company NB Developments No 2 Pty Ltd in January 2021, a few months after it was incorporated in Australia, according to Ms Tolley.
She said there is an urgency to the situation because once council receives the private certifications from the private certifier, construction could begin after 48 hours.
OFS want Shoalhaven City Council to not provide a construction certificate to the developers and to engage with the state government and other opportunities to buyback the land.
