Yet another subdivision west of the river was given the green light with the approval of a 12-lot subdivision on Kurmond Road, Kurmond, by Council at last week’s meeting.
While many councillors said they didn’t object to the development itself, like many proposals that came before them in the past, they deemed it inappropriate due to a lack of infrastructure and traffic issues.
‘‘I don’t think we are looking at the big picture here . . . every time we approve another development, even a small one, it compounds the existing [traffic] problem,’’ councillor Barry Calvert said. ‘‘At this stage it’s not in the best interest of the community.’’
Mayor Kim Ford said it complied with Council’s Residential Land Strategy and pointed out that although subdivisions had been approved under the strategy, not one house had been built yet.
‘‘So to say the traffic gets worse every time we approve a development is false,’’ he said.
Cr Mary Lyons-Buckett said she was concerned about crucial outstanding questions such as water and sewerage capacity in Kurrajong and Kurmond, while Cr Williams said he could see nothing wrong with the development other than that it would add more traffic to North Richmond Bridge.
‘‘In 2008/09 we had a mayoral minute to stop this type of development until we could get another crossing this side of the river — that was overturned in 2011 . . . I think we should go back to that,’’ he said.
Property owner Ernest Bennett said it would be a ‘‘comparatively small development and natural bushland would be entirely preserved as part of the community lot’’.
Minimum lot size would be 4000m2.
‘‘Small business owners need all the help they can get and this would do that,’’ he said in defence of the project.
The application still has to go through the state government’s Gateway process.
How they voted:
For: Crs Ford, Mackay, Conolly, Reardon, Creed and Porter.
Against: Crs Lyons-Buckett, Paine, Rasmussen, Williams and Calvert.
Absent: Cr Tree.
