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🇦🇺 Australia /Environment & Climate

Residents urge rethink of rezoning plan near Sydney habitat for endangered parrots

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • A proposal would allow eight- to 12-storey apartments on low-density housing land beside Queen Elizabeth Park in Sydney’s inner west.
  • Residents and opposition MPs say construction noise, light, shading and stormwater could harm habitat for the endangered swift parrot and Sydney turpentine ironbark forest.
  • The broader rezoning plan would add capacity for about 18,000 homes around the future Burwood North station, with the final proposal expected this year.

Sydney’s inner-west residents are asking the New South Wales government to abandon a high-density rezoning proposal next to habitat used by endangered swift parrots.

The plan would rezone a block of low-density housing in Concord, beside Queen Elizabeth Park, for apartment buildings reaching eight to 12 storeys. The park contains five hectares of endangered Sydney turpentine ironbark forest, and a biodiversity assessment commissioned by the state planning department recorded swift parrots there.

Concord resident Malcom Foldvary, a carpenter by trade, said construction would drive the birds away through noise from excavation and scaffolding. He said the work could involve a jackhammer weighing more than 36 tonnes to break through white sandstone and black shale. He also warned that stormwater could run downhill from the residential block and contaminate the park.

It would require in excess of a 36-tonne jackhammer, jackhammering out white sandstone and black shale.

· Malcom FoldvaryThe Concord resident described the construction noise he believes would disrupt the parrots.

The proposed rezoning allows building heights of up to 42 metres on the block. The department’s biodiversity report recommended avoiding shading the forest with tall structures. Foldvary said a federal recovery plan for the swift parrot also calls for indirect effects, including noise and light pollution, to be minimized.

He argued that housing should instead be concentrated closer to the future Metro station on Parramatta Road, north of the park boundary at Gipps Street. The proposal forms part of a wider plan around Burwood North station, which would create capacity for about 18,000 homes, including 5 to 10 percent affordable housing, with buildings ranging from eight to 42 storeys.

Foldvary said there was no need to encroach on the park simply to meet the government’s 800-metre transit-oriented development radius. The final rezoning proposal is expected to be completed this year.

There’s no need for them to encroach onto the park for the sole purposes of meeting the 800-metre distance from the Sydney Metro.

· Malcom FoldvaryHe argued that higher-density housing could be placed closer to the future station instead.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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