Concern over proposal
Group push for changes to subdivision
MT LOFTY residents on the edge of the Toowoomba escarpment are gearing up to fight a massive housing development from being approved in its current form.
Dozens of residents and other stakeholders met yesterday afternoon off Rifle Range Rd as part of an effort against Defence Housing Australia to create a 340-lot subdivision on the escarpment.
Geoff Sharp from the community reference group, formed by DHA to advise on the project when it was first announced, said they weren’t opposed to the subdivision but had serious problems with its handling of key issues.
“The main ones are traffic – they’re talking an extra 35004000 cars a day spilling out through two very narrow streets that are already over capacity,” he said.
“Storm water generation is also a big issue for us, because there’s no real treatment of storm water that’s going to happen – they’re just going to drop it off the edge of the escarpment.
“The tree-clearing on top is also a problem, so most of the trees on top of the escarpment will go apart from one creek line and they’ve found there are koalas in there scattered throughout.”
The group hopes to force the councillors to look at these issues through the public notification period, which is expected to open later this year.
DHA lodged the proposal with the council in June.