THE tight knit community of Salamander Bay has been fighting a proposal to build high rise apartments in a residential area of Fleet Street, Salamander Bay since February 2018.

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Many different aspects of this development were challenged by the community from truck movements to environmental concerns around the land clearing.

Port Stephens Council is the consent authority for these applications, and they have decided to reject the proposals (DA 2018-433 and DA 2018-547).

This decision was based on their determination the applicant has decided not to proceed with the current design.

The applicant can still submit future proposals however, Colin Howard, spokesperson for the Salamander Bay Community Group feels that the core design issue of these application, which was to dig down below the ground level so they could build multi-storey apartment blocks, has been found unacceptable in this urban environment of Salamander Bay.

His group calculated that it would take 15,000 truck movements to remove the soil from the property before the developer could start work. This raised questions as to the viability of the project and was something Council must include in their assessment criteria.

Colin Howard told News Of The Area, “This sets a precedent for future similar proposal throughout the Port Stephens area.”

He has hopes that in the future developers will come and talk to the local community before spending their funds on applications that are obviously out of character in a residential area of Port Stephens.

Mr Howard said, “The members of the Salamander Bay Community Group are not opposed to appropriate development for Seniors Living and they hope that if the owner decides to submit future proposals for the site the developer it will be respective of the local communities’ needs, the urban landscape of the site and the unique environment that surrounds the subject land at Fleet Street, Salamander Bay.”

By Marian SAMPSON