YOUR SAY: Not enought scrutiny of Orange's new Shiralee development

These DAs included a two-lot residential subdivision, a dual occupancy subdivision, a dual occupancy conversion of existing flats, and the removal of a tree from a rear yard.

Also on display and open for submissions during this same 14-day period, but not advertised in Saturday’s paper, is DA 293/2015(1): a 19-lot residential subdivision of land in the Shiralee area, owned by former Orange City councillor Sam Romano and his wife Karen.

The proposal includes 17 residential lots (mostly on land which operated as a commercial orchard prior to purchase by the Romanos in 2006), a 3.2 hectare residual lot (which, according to a map provided by an Orange estate agent, may later be subdivided into up to 47 smaller residential lots), and a lot of approximately 1.6 hectares which council has negotiated to purchase for open space and water retention.

This latter lot is only part of a larger area which was designated as public open space and a detention/retention basin in the draft Shiralee Development Control Plan of May 2014. 

It was also identified as having medium biodiversity, due mainly to the large numbers of bird and aquatic life in two dams, which form part of the headwaters of Blackmans Swamp Creek. 

In the proposed subdivision, the boundary between council’s lot and the residual lot would bisect both dams, effectively destroying them and all the wildlife they support.

It seems ludicrous that a development proposal of this significance is being given no more opportunity for public examination and comment than the DA for removal of a single tree.

I urge any Orange residents who care about the future development of their city, and the Shiralee area in particular, to examine this proposal at council’s Byng St office, and voice an opinion. 

But you’ll have to be quick - you can only see it during office hours and only have until September 28 to make a submission.

Lesley Smith, Orange