Knox City Council officers have recommended rejecting two planning permits for 621 Burwood Highway, Knoxfield, the site of a man-made dam known to locals as Lake Knox, after receiving over 1000 objections from the public.
Ahead of a strategic committee meeting on Monday 12 December where the motion will be voted on by councillors, officers recommended against the two planning permits integral to the development of a new housing estate and wetlands on the site of the dam.
In the meeting’s agenda, officers recommended “that the committee issue a notice of refusal to grant a planning permit for the subdivision of land in stages, removal of native vegetation, creation of access to a road in a transport zone, and associated and buildings,” and “that the committee issue a notice of refusal to grant a planning permit for a utility installation, removal of native vegetation and associated buildings and works at 521 Burwood Highway, Knoxfield,” subject to the refusal ground detailed in the full recommendation.
The development of the site — which is located at the corner of Burwood Highway and Scoresby Road in Knoxfield — is controversial and has seen widespread community opposition because of several hatchings of the vulnerable blue-billed duck being found at the dam, with concerns that the proposed wetlands will not create favourable environmental outcomes.
The site was formerly the Knoxfield Horticultural Research Facility, where the dam is believed to have been built in the late 1950s or 1960 to be used for crop irrigation.
More to come.
