The Council has received correspondence from the ACTPLA Applications Secretariat in regard to the a possible EIS Proposal: “Sandford Street extension (currently Morisset Street) to the Federal Highway-200900355-600/0 Gungahlin (numerous blocks)”
UPDATE: ACTPLA are now advising the following:
“With reference to the email for EIS Scoping Document dated 9 November, 2009 please be advised that the applicant is not seeking an s211 exemption as stated in the email. Please review the request for scoping documentation and draft your responses accordingly.”
ACTPLA are seeking comments from the North Canberra Community Council in relation to this proposed EIS document and in particular whether or not the Council is supportive of Ministerial exemption from the EIS process.
“It is also noted that the applicant has requested consideration for Ministerial exemption from the requirement to complete an EIS pursuant to s211 of the Planning and Development Act 2007. When evaluating and commenting on the referral please ensure your comments address the suitability of the previous studies/information supplied by the applicant to justify their s211 request.”
The Council has repeatedly indicated concern about traffic issues and impact on the North Canberra region, especially in regard to the significant new redevelopments in North Watson and continual expansion of the Gungahlin region.
Once the CD from ACTPLA has been received, relevant portions will be uploaded to this website. In the mean time the Council is seeking your input and feedback with regard to this issue. Please feel free to leave public comments at the bottom of this web page or private comments may be sent via the “Contact Us” page. Input received will be used to formulate the NCCC response to this request by the due date.
The correspondence from ACTPLA and related initial attachment has been reproduced below:
From: App Sec <App.Sec@act.gov.au>
To: info@northcanberra.org.au
Date: Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 11:22 AM
Subject: Request for EIS Scoping Document-NCCC-Proposal: Sandford Street extension (currently Morisset Street) to the Federal Highway-200900355-600/0 Gungahlin (numerous blocks)—–
Due to the size of the documents a disc will be forwarded today to your postal address.
The ACT Planning and Land Authority (ACTPLA) have received an application for an EIS scoping document. In accordance with s212 of the Planning and Development Act 2007 and s26 and s51 of the Planning and Development Regulation 2008 the application is being referred to you for review and comment.
The request was lodged on (4/11/2009), requiring the Minister to complete the request by (16/12/2009). We would like to complete the scoping process early in this period to allow time to prepare the Final Scoping Document for issuance to the proponent.
When formulating your response it is important to remember that the EIS process is not an approval process. The purpose of an EIS required by the Planning and Development Act 2007 is to identify the potential impacts that may result from the development proposal and put forward options for mitigating such impacts. Completion of the EIS process does not equate to approval of the development. It is the proponent’s responsibility to identify mitigation options for the potential impacts in the draft EIS in response to the scoping document. As such please ensure your response is considered against the following:
- What aspects of the development proposal are within your organisation’s jurisdiction?
- What aspects of the development proposal can be dealt with at the development application stage and therefore should not be included in this process?
- Are the comments limited to identifying potential impacts and not mitigation measures?
- Are the comments directly related to the development proposal?
It is also noted that the applicant has requested consideration for Ministerial exemption from the requirement to complete an EIS pursuant to s211 of the Planning and Development Act 2007. When evaluating and commenting on the referral please ensure your comments address the suitability of the previous studies/information supplied by the applicant to justify their s211 request.Clearly state in your response if your organisation is supportive of a s211 exemption and the reasons why. Conversely if your organisation believes that the proposal requires further assessment of potential impacts via the preparation of a draft EIS clearly state the reasons why and a list of the issues required to be included in the scoping document.
Sign off on any referral comments from your agency must be at the Senior Executive level. Where the comments are being provided from a statutory position, e.g. Conservator of Flora and Fauna, the sign off must be by the holder of the statutory position, or a Senior Executive officer with appropriate delegation.
Please provide your advice to app.sec@act.gov.au by COB, ( 30/11/09).
9/11/09
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