ON the very ground renowned for having been contaminated and polluting the Boolaroo community, a new residential development has been planned.
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In its first project in the Hunter, a company called Greencapital Australia Pty Ltd has lodged plans with Lake Macquarie City Council for a 680-residential lot development on 66 hectares of the former Pasminco smelter site.
Urban designer and spokesman for the developer, Kerry Nichols, says the Bunderra at the Lake project ‘ticks all the boxes’.
“It’s a key site,” Mr Nichols said. “It’s probably one of the last residential infill sites in the area.”
The site, according to Mr Nichols, has been ‘fully remediated’.
“We certainly wouldn’t be doing it otherwise,” he said.
The site neighbours a containment cell, holding contaminated soil and slag materials. Mr Nichols said the cell was outside the proposed housing area, and it was similar to what was happening in other major remediated sites in NSW.
“It has a history, yes,” Mr Nichols said of the Boolaroo site.
“But we hope people look forward, and look to [converted industrial] areas such as Breakfast Point in Sydney.”
Lake Macquarie mayor Kay Fraser, has welcomed the plan.
“It’s very exciting that it’s been lodged,” Cr Fraser said.
“This is a positive sign for the area.”
Boolaroo Action Group spokesman Jim Sullivan said he was supportive of any beneficial reuse of the site, “as long as all the safeguards are in place”.
Mr Sullivan said the community was still waiting for the results of the Lead Expert Working Group’s evaluation of the effectiveness of remediation programs around Boolaroo.
‘It’s hard to support something if you don’t know the devil in the detail,’ Mr Sullivan said.
The chair of the Lead Expert Working Group, Adam Gilligan, said the final report would be released before Christmas.
If the council approves the application, the developers are hoping to begin work on the site by the middle of next year.