Another skirmish is taking place in the long-running Hawkesbury battle between farmers who want to farm, and suburban residents who want to bring up their families in a peaceful and healthy environment.
A north-west Sydney cut-flower business has put in an application to set up an open-air flower farm at Freemans Reach – directly behind houses on Panorama Crescent.
Residents said the proposed farm was only 15m from their backyards.
Maurice Geake said his family and neighbours were most worried about chemical spray drift from the open-air farm, but also feared noise and dust from early truck movements, and the effects of chemical use on the swans and other birds nesting in the big dam on the property.
“If it was an organic farm we probably would have worn it and asked them to move the driveway and tweaked a few things,” Mr Geake said.
He said Mayor Mary Lyons-Buckett was “most concerned” when he told her of the application. She told the Gazette she had asked for it to be brought before Council due to residents’ objections.
Polito Flower Farms put in the development application last month for the 32-hectare block at 539 Kurmond Road after buying it in August, 2015. It’s zoned RU2 Rural Landscape which allows their intended use.
At a pre-lodgement meeting, Council officers asked the applicants why they intended putting the flower farm right behind the houses when it was a very long block. The applicants replied that due to trees on the site, only that top section would get sufficient sun for the flowers.
As it is, 36 trees would have to be removed for the enterprise, but the bottom half of the block closer to the river is more heavily wooded.
While the DA said the boundary of the property adjoining the houses of Panorama Crescent would be planted with “locally native species” to provide a barrier, residents did not feel that was enough.
Resident Shayne Ryan, who submitted one of the 13 objections to the DA, said his concerns were similar to Mr Geake’s – chemical drift, noise, dust and loss of view.
“I’ve lived there for 17 years,” Mr Ryan said. “We’re worried about the spray drift. We have kids, animals, a pool, a water tank and a vegie garden, and most of our wind comes from that direction.”
Chemicals named in the DA as examples of what would be used were Mancozeb fungicide, Confidor, Round Up and lime sulphur.
Guidelines for Mancozeb include covering all skin and avoiding breathing of it. The active ingredient in Confidor has been implicated in collapse of honey bee colonies overseas and is said to be highly toxic to sparrows, canaries and pigeons. There are also now big question marks over the safety of Round Up as well.
The application said chemical spraying would be “performed in line with ChemCert and Pesticides Act 1999. Spray drift under these practices is low”.
While the objection period for the DA expired on June 23, Council’s Cristie Evenhuis told the Gazette “all submissions submitted after the statutory closing date and prior to the application being determined will be taken into consideration”, though she said objectors should submit as soon as possible.
Ms Evenhuis said chemical spray drift was a standard thing to be considered by Council, “particularly when in close proximity to adjoining development”. She also said any use of chemicals had to be according to all rules and legislation.
The Gazette contacted the applicant Joe Polito who said he had since modified his plans to ensure he got on with his neighbours.
“Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I want to get on with my neighbours,” he said. “It’s not in my interest to do the wrong thing. They won’t be woken in the middle of the night by trucks and tractors, there’ll be no glasshouses and we’ll be putting in a big no-spray buffer zone.”
He said the current easement between the houses and the paddock will stay, then there will be a buffer planting of thick species “hopefully fast growing” then a 20m strip of strelitzias (bird of paradise) which require no spray at all, then 20m of flowering gum which, if they require any spray at all will be only when they’re flowering, and then magnolias, which also require no spray.
He said the strelitzias, flowering gum and magnolias will only be planted once so there won’t be any regular rotary hoeing and dust.
“I’ve given it a lot of thought,” he said. “The crops that require spray [dahlias] will be as far as possible from the houses – near the cabbage growers.”
He also said the name ‘intensive flower farming’ gave the wrong picture. “It’s just us bending over. We spray by hand, we pick them by hand, tie them in a bunch and put them in a bucket. There’s nothing intensive about it.
“I’ve been spraying my whole life. I’ve never been one to use chemicals without care. Not just for strangers but for my own family. We’ve never had a problem with illness in my family and we’ve raised generations. If they’re going to kill anyone they’ll kill us.”
He also said one of his employees is up to date with organic farming techniques. “The more organic we can be, we will be.”
