Julius Avenue Data Centre

Please see attached submission

It is absurd that you plan to chop down 500+ trees for an ugly data centre that guzzles energy and water for Days. the SD6 data center in ma park is already consuming enough to induce water scarcity in local neighbourhoods

I have attached a file with my Submission re the Julius Avenue Data Centre.

Given its proximity to the lane cove national park (and I am not sure if it actually impinges on the national park), it is imperative the national park is not affected in any way. This includes all matters such as water run off, sediment erosion, loss of separation zone to ensure weed advance does not occur etc.

The Lane Cove river and adjacent adjacent national park has been affected by human development and change in the past and continues to be impacted even today.

There should be no compromise on this matter.
Thank you

I am writing to formally lodge my objection to the proposed Julius Avenue Data Centre development. As a long-term resident in the area and a regular user of Lane Cove National Park, I am deeply concerned about the environmental, cultural, and community impacts of this project.
1. Lack of Transparency and Procedural Fairness
The Proponent’s Response to Submissions (RtS) demonstrates a dismissive approach to community concerns.
Disproportionate Response: While "Agency Submissions" received 35 pages of detailed analysis (Table 15), the "Community Submissions" were condensed into just 2 pages (Table 16).
Obfuscation: Serious concerns raised by the public were met with brief summaries that cross-reference lengthy, highly technical appendices. This prevents "plain English" transparency and fails to genuinely engage with the 150+ residents who formally objected.
2. Incompatible Land Use: "Heavy Utility" Masked as "Light Industry"
The classification of this facility as ‘Light Industry’ under RLEP2014 is an operational fiction.
Scale vs. Definition: Light industry is defined by minimal impact on local amenity. This proposal includes a six-storey mechanical gantry housing 49 industrial diesel generators and 955,000 litres of fuel storage.
The "Noise Floor": Unlike a standard workshop with intermittent business-hour noise, this facility creates a 24/7 "noise floor" through constant heat rejection and low-frequency vibrations. This is a heavy utility infrastructure project and should be assessed under the heightened scrutiny such a footprint demands.
3. Failure to Assess Alternative Sites
Despite 62 unique inquiries regarding site selection, the Proponent provided zero evidence of an "Alternative Site Assessment." The response—merely stating the site is "permissible with consent"—ignores the strategic planning requirement to justify why a high-impact industrial hub must be placed 400m from a Metro station and directly adjacent to a National Park habitat corridor.
4. Acoustic Deficiencies: Cumulative and Ecological Impact
The noise study remains fundamentally inadequate:
Cumulative Negligence: It ignores the existing acoustic load from the Apollo Place facility (Lane Cove West) only 500m away.
Environmental Blind Spots: Sound modeling was capped at 2m above ground. This fails to account for the tree canopy (critical for fauna) and the acoustic reflection off the Lane Cove River, which acts as a conductor for low-frequency "droning" into residential areas like River Avenue.
5. Air Quality and Generator Integrity Concerns
The proposed testing regime for the 49 Caterpillar (C175-20 and DE1100) generators appears technically unrealistic for mission-critical infrastructure:
Underestimated Testing: A 22-minute monthly test is insufficient for generators of this scale. Real-world run times for mission-critical loads often exceed 200 hours per year.
Fuel Degradation Risk: Diesel has a stable shelf life of less than 2 years. Based on the Proponent’s own figures, the 955,000-litre storage represents a 15.9-year supply. This means the facility will eventually be burning highly degraded fuel, significantly increasing toxic emissions beyond the levels stated in the air quality report.
Formal Request for Information:
I request that the Department require the Proponent to provide:
OEM Certification: Written confirmation from Caterpillar that a 22-minute test is sufficient for mission-critical maintenance.
Degraded Fuel Emissions Data: Emission profiles for diesel stored longer than 2 years.
Fuel Management Plan: A verified strategy for the turnover of nearly 1 million litres of fuel to prevent environmental contamination and toxic particulate discharge.

I am writing about the proposed development of the Julius Ave Data Centre in the previous CSIRO land area in North Ryde. The proposed data centre borders Lane Cove National Park and subsumes a portion of the Great North Walk.

I am concerned about the removal of 509 trees which will severely impact the wildlife habitat corridor. This area also serves to protect the National Park’s boundary from weed infestation and as a barrier against the urban environment for native species living in the park.

Reduction of the wildlife corridor will also result in habitat loss for three fauna and four flora species already at risk. These include three bat species (the Large-eared Pied Bat, Chalinolobus dwyeri, Little Bent-winged Bat, Miniopterus australis and Large Bent-winged Bat, Miniopterus orianae oceanensis). Additionally, four threatened plant species will also be affected (Darwinia biflora, Deyeuxia appressa, Hibbertia spanantha and Rhizanthella slateri).

The proposed development’s plans (EIS appendix 12) show a reduction of the habitat corridor to a point where it basically ceases to exist and thus will no longer function as such. The proposed 'bushland restoration area' will not be able to replicate the area of forest it replaces. The proposed roads and hard surface areas will contribute to polluted stormwater runoff from the data centre's surrounds, this water will flow into the National Park and the Lane Cove River. How is this proposed to be managed? The proposed development is effectively on a slope, meaning all pollution generated from human activities will flow to the Park.

The removal of 509 trees to only be replaced by a meagre 143 is not acceptable. Mature trees are not simply some ‘greenery’ that provide pretty scenery. Mature trees are like high-rise apartments for a multitude of species that depend on them. Additionally, they provide services to humans such as removing and storing CO2 from the atmosphere, providing shade and cooling the surrounding area, i.e. reducing the urban heat island effect. You cannot recreate a forest by simply planting a few trees. Old forests store enormous volumes of carbon and should be protected.

Additionally, I notice the proposed use of 73 diesel generators for back up purposes. The estimated hours of their use just for testing purposes alone is 1,971 hours (equivalent to 82 days 24/7). What impact will this have wildlife and local residents? For both air quality and noise? Do either of these exceed the NSW EPA criteria? (as I factually know, one data centre in western Sydney exceeds air quality criteria).

While I am not opposed to reuse of the former CSIRO grounds or of a data centre per say, removal of import habitat adjacent a National Park is unacceptable. This is an example of death by a thousand cuts to species already under pressure from encroaching urbanisation and development. I object to the proposal's design and its highly likely negative impact to the adjacent National Park, and the flora and fauna that lives within and around it.

What’s happened about clever designs and the Government’s commitment to protecting the environment? I’m appalled but not surprised.

I am writing to lodge my objection to the proposed development involving the construction and 24/7 operation of a data centre with a power consumption of up to 170 megawatts, including a six-storey building, office space, diesel storage, back-up generators, car parking, a subtransmission switching station, and a new road.

This proposal is deeply inappropriate for the nominated site, and I ask that it be refused on the following grounds:

1. Environmental Impacts & Loss of Natural Buffer
• The subject land currently serves as an essential buffer between Lane Cove National Park and urban development.
• Replacing this buffer with an intensive industrial use will result in habitat fragmentation, disruption of wildlife corridors, and increased edge effects (light, noise, air pollution) that undermine the ecological integrity of the national park.
• Construction, diesel storage, and continuous generator testing risk soil, water, and air pollution, directly threatening nearby bushland and waterways.

2. Climate & Energy Concerns
• A facility consuming up to 170 megawatts will place a huge burden on Sydney’s already stressed energy grid. This level of consumption is equivalent to powering tens of thousands of homes.
• The reliance on diesel back-up generators contradicts local, state, and national commitments to emissions reduction and a transition to renewable energy.
• Approval of this project would undermine climate action targets and set a concerning precedent for unsustainable energy use in sensitive areas.

3. Amenity & Community Impacts
• A 24/7 operation will generate constant traffic, noise, and light pollution, eroding the residential amenity of surrounding communities and diminishing the visitor experience of Lane Cove National Park.
• The proposed new road and significant car parking will draw additional traffic into a natural precinct that should be protected, not urbanised.

4. Planning Inconsistency & Precedent
• The proposal is fundamentally incompatible with the surrounding land uses, particularly its proximity to a protected national park.
• Allowing this large-scale industrial development in a green buffer zone will create a precedent for further encroachment, steadily eroding the protections around the national park and undermining long-term planning objectives.

5. Alternatives
• Data centres, by their nature, are best suited to industrial zones with existing infrastructure, not areas adjacent to national parks.
• If there is a genuine need for additional data storage capacity, it should be met in a location that does not compromise ecological and community values.

Conclusion
For the above reasons, I strongly oppose this proposal and urge the consent authority to refuse the application. The preservation of Lane Cove National Park’s buffer zones is essential to safeguarding Sydney’s natural heritage, biodiversity, and community wellbeing.

Too many trees being destroyed again

I personally oppose the plan to go ahead because it will  result in the removal of trees that are part of the important habitat corridor right next to the Park and the Great North Walk near Fairyland.

This is the major threat to the loss of habitat for three threatened fauna species, namely: Large-eared Pied Bat Chalinolobus dwyeri, Little Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus australis and Large Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus orianae oceanensis, and four threatened plant species, being Darwinia biflora, Deyeuxia appressa, Hibbertia spanantha and Rhizanthella slateri.

I would like to ensure that the biodiversity impacts of the proposal are assessed

Whilst I acknowledge the need for data centres in this age of technology, I cannot fathom the disregard for environmental protection. The NSW government has made a commitment to greening Sydney, yet we continue to see planning projects that destroy environmentally sensitive green space. Does the government have no conscience when it comes to endangered flora and fauna? Data centres are known to create noise and impact water sources - please, leave our national park spaces, and those directly adjoining them, alone.

I am concerned with the significant loss of trees on this site which is bordering on part of the Lane Cove National Park. Without a clear buffer zone a data centre will:
- impact wildlife - nocturnal animals will be disturbed due to noise, excess heat & lighting during and post construction.
- put the national park and surrounding residents at a higher fire risk due to the diesel on site.
- Impact sediment flow into the river during construction. This has been seen at the development at Chatswood golf course despite planning in place.
- Loss of trees which are much needed in an age of climate change & pollution.
- Soil loss due to run off and on site construction.
- Loss of natural space for people who live close to the city to truly enjoy nature.
There are many other more suitable sites around Sydney in established industrial areas. If we are to consider a decent future for our future generations we need to consider the impact we are making on the natural world. Data Centres already use too much energy and placing a building like this by destroying natural bushland must be reconsidered.

There are better sites in industrial areas that do not border national park. Placing a data centre next to a National Park is not taking into account the reason national parks were set up in the first place.

My family have been on the Fairyland walk and other tracks along the Lane Cove River in North Ryde. It is a very special natural area that is home to many birds, mammals and other precious wildlife and plants. I have seen and photographed them myself. I would be very sad to know that many of their vital sheltering trees were to be cut down for this proposed data centre. There are precious few remaining mature trees left next to our National Park, the iconic Fairyland walk and Lane Cove River that I don't think we can afford to just destroy 300 more trees and the important tree hollows along with them.

I am writing to raise urgent concerns about the environmental impact of the proposed Julius Road Data Centre in North Ryde, particularly its effects on the local wildlife habitat adjacent to Lane Cove National Park. While the need for digital infrastructure is acknowledged, it must not come at the cost of irreplaceable ecological assets.
The development will reportedly result in the removal of approximately 500 trees, including over 300 mature specimens that provide critical habitat features such as nesting hollows . These trees are part of a vital habitat corridor that connects to Lane Cove National Park, a biodiversity hotspot in Sydney’s north-west. Many of these trees have taken over a century to develop the hollows necessary for native birds, mammals, and reptiles to survive.
We often walk through Lane Cove National Park and are often amazed that how some of the unique wildlife manage to survive as their habitat is increasingly encroached upon. We have seen
Powerful Owls – a threatened species that relies on large tree hollows for nesting.
Eastern Pygmy Possums – a small, nocturnal marsupial vulnerable to habitat fragmentation.
Grey-headed Flying Foxes – a keystone pollinator listed as vulnerable under national legislation.
Fairy-wrens – a small bird dependent on dense understorey vegetation.
Eastern Long-necked Turtles – found in nearby waterways and vulnerable to pollution and habitat loss
and a myriad of other parrots and small birds that rely on tree hollows and underlying vegetation to survive. These species are part of a delicate ecological web that is already under pressure from urban expansion. The removal of mature trees and disruption of understorey vegetation will reduce food sources, breeding sites, and safe corridors for movement.
As the site borders the Lane Cove National Park and forms part of a broader wildlife corridor that supports species migration and genetic diversity. I have no doubt that fragmenting this corridor with a large-scale industrial facility will isolate populations and increase the risk of local extinctions.
While the developer has reportedly proposed planting 750 new trees to offset the loss, these saplings will take decades to develop the ecological functions of the mature trees being removed. As conservationists have noted, “pulling them down and planting another sapling over the way doesn’t really do the trick”
Given the significant ecological risks, I respectfully urge the following actions:
Conduct a full and independent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) with a focus on threatened species and habitat connectivity.
Explore alternative site layouts that preserve mature trees and critical habitat zones.
Implement long-term biodiversity monitoring and habitat restoration programs in collaboration with local conservation groups.
Require meaningful community consultation and transparency throughout the planning process.
The Julius Road Data Centre must not proceed without robust safeguards for the local environment. Our natural heritage and the species that depend on it deserve protection. Once they are gone they are gone!

Submission Regarding Julius Avenue Data Centre Proposal

To whom it may concern,

I'm writing to express my strong objection to the proposed Julius Avenue Data Centre development adjacent to Lane Cove National Park.

While I understand the growing demand for digital infrastructure, this project raises serious concerns around biodiversity, habitat loss, local character and long-term ecological impact that cannot be mitigated by simply planting new trees.

The proposal involves the removal of over 500 mature trees within a key habitat corridor that borders Lane Cove National Park and the Great North Walk. These trees aren’t just “green assets” on a map—they are living habitat, many of them likely well over a century old. They provide nesting hollows, shade, food, and critical shelter for native species. These functions cannot simply be replaced by new plantings. It takes more than a hundred years for trees to develop hollows that support the kinds of wildlife this area is known for, and in that time species may well have been lost to the area for lack of habitat

This site forms part of a broader ecological network that includes habitat for threatened species such as the Large-eared Pied Bat, Little Bent-winged Bat, and Large Bent-winged Bat, not to mention four threatened plants. To push ahead with a high-impact industrial facility at the edge of a national park is short-sighted at best, and ecologically reckless at worst.

Beyond habitat loss, the development also introduces other risks like increased bushfire hazard, noise pollution, and heat island effects in an area already under pressure from urban expansion. These risks change the lived experience of the park and its surrounds for people and wildlife alike.

Lane Cove National Park and the adjoining bushland corridors are valued by locals not just for their natural beauty, but for their continuity, for the feeling of stepping into a place that has been allowed to grow, evolve, and support life over generations. That feeling doesn’t survive a 170-megawatt server farm and 500 felled trees. Once natural areas are lost, they cannot simply be regrown elsewhere - offset plantings grossly oversimplify the loss that occurs from tree felling.

I urge the Department to reject this proposal and prioritise the protection of Lane Cove’s unique natural heritage and biodiversity.

Kind regards,
Dave Matthews
Resident of the area adjacent to LCNP for 26 years, bush regenerator working within LCNP

"I object to the project as it would have an adverse impact on the local environment and protected national parkland.

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed development, available on the project webpage at

https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major -projects/projects/julius-avenue-data-centre, refers in Table 8 to the removal of 509 trees.

This damage to both a local and national public good is unacceptable, combined with the fact the proposed data centre in my view would not provide any let alone equal benifits to the community.

I oppose this development."

The proposed Data Centre will involve the destruction of native habitat unique to the area. The idea that planting 750 trees elsewhere is a sufficient replacement for the destruction of our unique wildlife makes no sense and should not be seriously considered. Our bushland is unique and the animals and plant life that inhabit it are not as expendable as we think. If we consider these kinds of proposals we might end up living in an Australia without any birds or certain plants and animals and frankly that's not the Australia I want to live in. Thank you

See attached PDF

I strongly object to the proposal to clear native bushland on Julius Avenue, North Ryde, for the construction of a data centre. This land functions as a critical biodiversity corridor between Lane Cove National Park and surrounding industrial areas, providing habitat for native flora and fauna. Its destruction would conflict with the objectives of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the principles of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, which require protection of ecological values and sustainable land use. The proposal also contradicts government commitments to reducing urban heat and preserving green infrastructure. With an abundance of vacant and underutilised commercial sites across Sydney suitable for adaptive reuse, there is no justification for clearing irreplaceable bushland. I urge the government to reject this development and ensure compliance with environmental obligations by safeguarding this land for future generations.

I object to this proposal as there has not been sufficient consideration of alternatives to prevent impacts on biodiversity values.
Section 3.6 b) of the EIS state "Consideration was given to carrying out development on alternate sites, these were dismissed as the Site resulted in the most beneficial outcomes for the Proposal. B".
None of these alternate sites are mentioned or discussed. The statement provided is weak and provides no evidence that sufficient investigations have occurred to find alternate sites that would minimise ecological impacts.
The statement 'All potential environmental impacts concerning the proposed development are generally able to be suitably mitigated within the Site; ' is not true. Offsets are required for the proposal, which demonstrates that significant impacts on native vegetation will occur. Which alternatives were investigated that would prevent/minimise impacts on native vegetation?
The removal of over 500 trees is completely unacceptable for the type of development proposed. The vegetation proposed to be removed provides valuable habitat and a wildlife corridor for a variety of native fauna. The protection of this habitat should be prioritised, not dismissed as an unfortunate side-effect.
More can be done to find alternate sites that would result in less impacts. Stop eroding the remaining pockets of wildlife and biodiversity values in Sydney. These values should be protected to the furthest extent possible.

I am a local resident who opposes this project on the basis of the environmental harms and damages it would cause. The demolition of sensitive ecological communities will cause devastating impacts to the wildlife that calls the Lane Cove river corridor their home. This will further push the native fauna imperative to the local ecosystems out from this part of Sydney when their numbers have already dropped drastically. The trees proposed for removal cannot simply be justified by replanting in a new area. Their age indicates they are well established in the area and they provide valuable resources for local fauna. Please consider the impacts on flora and fauna in the outcomes of this project. We cannot further demolish critically sensitive habitats when so much has already been cleared. A better alternative would be to build the data centre in land that has already been cleared without deforesting the Lane Cove River catchment.