Whats wrong with Woolies new amendments?

The most outrageous aspect of the S96 Amendments to the Woolworths proposal is their sewage plan. The flowchart calculations for their 2500 m2 supermarket are based on a single bedroomed dwelling! Furthermore the storage and irrigation area is underneath the carpark and access road; there will be no transpiration/evaporation possible through the tarmac. I’ve been told that noxious gasses such as hydrogen sulphide and methane will accumulate in the anaerobic environment and it will have the festering smell of rotten eggs similar to a waste dump; gasses which are 21 times more global warming that CO2.

Drainage is a problem in Mullumbimby, especially on the floodplain where the Woolworth’s proposal is. The Station Street ditch is still full of stagnant water two days after last week’s rain. Where will Woolworth’s treated sewage go when the ground is sodden with rain? Frank Sartor needs to check out these proposals very carefully; please keep onto him (submission deadline is 18 July). Whether you are for Woolworths or not, this sewage scheme is not good enough.

Woolworths appear to have forgotten that the DA Approval was granted for a two stage development; Stage 1 with on-site sewage disposal, Stage 2 “relies on reticulated sewerage disposal being made available to the site” (MOD 22-3-2007 Conditions of Consent www.planning.nsw.gov.au). BSC’s Director of Planning, Development and Environment Services Ray Darney wrote to Woolworths on 16 June and omitted the contentious sewage issue (www.byron.nsw.gov.au see Woolworths application; Response from BSC) A recent Urgency Motion prepared by Cr Westheimer about the sewage situation has also been ignored, despite a Resolution to bring up the sewage issue with Department of Planning.

Even the Traffic Report prepared by Masson Wilson Twiney is riddled with inaccuracies; in the Introduction they state the DA was approved and omit the Consent Conditions. This could confuse people. P2 flouts BSC by calling it “Bryon Shire Council”, p3 states Argyle Street connects to Pacific Highway. Even if you don’t understand the technicalities, Sartor need to know that these Consultants are approaching this serious business with disrespect, the results of which could be disastrous for Mullumbimby.

A sample letter to Minister Sartor is available to download from our website www.mullumaction.org, also at Eden’s Landing, Santos & IGA-Deli.

Deborah