It's a development not appropriate to the Blue Mountains. Fires will wipe out the entire project in no time, therefore dangerous for anyone living there. The soil is neither appropriate for development there and the damage to the environment will be irrevocable.
Please conserve this as it is. It is more lucrative leaving it alone. Thank you.

1. I acknowledge we need to provide inexpensive and more affordable housing to the Katoomba area, but this proposal will not meet this requirement. A 15 % target as outlined in the proposal is a negligible amount of units and will do little to have any impact on housing needs in our area.
2. As a Katoomba resident of over 35 years I have lived through a number of bushfire events and the ensuing chaos that these bushfire events create in our community. To build such a large development without large government infrastructure improvements to existing access roads could be a disaster. During the last bushfire event access on Narrow Neck road was a shambles with emergency crews struggling to contain the fire and defend existing houses on Narrow Neck road. Add potentially another 400-500 new residents and the results could be catastrophic.
3. The development appears to be oversized and to large for the site, with escarpment and ridge line views greatly compromised.The World Heritage listing of the Blue Mountains should not be threatened by this inappropriate proposal. The popularity of the Blue Mountains and Katoomba is due to its spectacular views which will be compromised by this development.
4. This proposal will create water diversion and hard surface run of that will have a negative impact on the surrounding environment especially given the combined size and footprint of all the buildings.
5. Public transport is very limited in this area and the distance to Katoomba station is not a fast or easy walk, especially in the middle of winter with 0 degree temperatures.The majority of residents in the development will rely on personal vehicle transport and many visitors to this apartment block will be forced to park in surrounding streets creating more traffic and parking problems for local residents

I think its horrific to bring in hundreds of people into a heritage area, what the heck is katoomba going to look like with up to 1000 people flooding in, living in a peaceful town. How are our roads/businesses going to support shipping in all these people?
Its going to ruin why people come up to katoomba to enjoy

My husband and I have been residents in the Blue Mountains for over 50 years at 51 Lucinda Avenue Springwood.
The Blue Mountains NP plays a great part in our lives and we enjoy the beauty of the Blue Mountains through bushwalking and other activities in our lives. We are very privileged to live in a World Heritage National Park and fine it hard to believe that high rise development could be allowed to spoil it's natural beauty and character.
My objections are as follows:
1 As the Blue Mountains is a World Heritage National Park it should be exempt from HDA power and proposal and instead be protected by the Local Environment Plan and Development and Control Plan.
2 The Project would erode the character of Katoomba, including views of the escarpment.
3 Katoomba already has a traffic congestion problem, and this would worsen through the large number of residents that would occupy the proposed development. This would increase risk including evacuation routes during emergencies eg bushfire evacuation
4 It would degrade the natural environment, including sensitive and protected ecosystems.
5 If this proposal is approved, it would set a powerful precedent. It would effectively give the green light for similar high-density developments across the Blue Mountains Local Government Area (LGA), regardless of: • Local planning controls • Environmental sensitivity • Bushfire risk • Community character Once a precedent is set, it is very difficult to reverse.
6 Katoomba would loose its unique character of a township in a delightful bushland setting with amazing views to a high rise suburb like any where else. This could remove the attraction for tourism and reduce the financial benefits for the township and surrounds currently has.
In view of the above I ask that the development not be approved and that the Blue Mountains Local Government Area be excluded from the HDA pathway.

Sharon Cox

I am a nearby resident and am writing to formally object to this project.
These buildings will be permanently visible from the World Heritage National Park and escarpment, causing irreversible harm to our landscape that local planning controls have protected for decades.
The site has limited evacuation routes, and the proposed removal of trees will increase fire danger. Reclassifying the site as non-bushfire prone does not eliminate the real risk to residents.
This density and scale are fundamentally out of keeping with the surrounding low-density area, this will drastically detract from the character of the Blue Mountains that makes it so beloved on a local and global scale.
I urge the department to listen to the objections of Blue Mountains City Council and its residents and refuse this application.

Reasons for my opposition are contained in the attached document.

To: Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure

Regarding the proposed Narrowneck Road Development

Hi,
I'm writing as a life long resident living in the Blue Mountains and I wanted to write to you about the proposed narrowneck Rd development and the bypass of Blue Mountains Local Environment Plan (LEP).
I'm concerned about the fact the development application does not take into account local planning and local scale and zoning.

The site itself is zoned as R3 Medium Density and the proposed buildings are high density and do not account for the increased environmental damage and bushfire risk. The site is near the threatened Blue Mountains Swamps and the high density buildings will affect not only the water flow to the swamps and endangered flora and fauna, like the Critically endangered Dwarf Mountain Pine, but will also send polluted water into these critical areas. The buildings and development will have a massive impact on the nearby ecosystems and wildlife.

The site itself is also in a bushfire prone area and has only one means of access (Narrowneck Road). In an emergency the road will not be capable of handling the increased traffic of an evacuation, and has shown to be vulnerable during previous fires. The risk of hampering emergency response during bushfire is also high, leading to an increased risk to life.

The aforementioned increased traffic will also have a massive impact on the local infrastructure and roads. There is limited public transport in the area and adding hundreds of new cars will add wear to the roads. The increase will cause added potholes and damage to local roads and add significant strain to infrastructure such as electricity, sewerage,etc.

The proposed development also threatens the character of not only Katoomba, but the surrounding world heritage area. High density urban style development does not work in the Blue Mountains landscape, cultural identity and scale. Tourism to the area would be adversely affected, as would community well-being.

As a life long resident of the mountains I believe that the proposed Narrowneck Road Development should not go ahead as the impact would be too severe. I also believe that due to the unique nature of the Blue Mountains and the associated risks, the Blue Mountains LGA should be exempt from the Housing Delivery Authority and the SSD pathways and that all development in the Blue Mountains should take due consideration of the local area, character, bushfire risk and ecosystem.

Thank you

I object to this project.

At four storeys and 214 residential apartments, the project is far too high and large, and is not in keeping with the existing and planned character of Katoomba and the Blue Mountains, particularly the south Katoomba escarpment. This is an area of single/double storey development and the proposed buildings will be conspicuoulsy ugly. They will mar the attractiveness of the escarpment.

The project will potentially have a detrimental effect on local bushland and particularl on Blue Mountains Swamps that are located downslope from the site. The swamps are a protected ecological community and there is a considerable chance that stormwater, earthworks and environmental weeds will spread from the project site and onto the swamps. Damage to or destruction of these swamps will have a degrading effect on nearby Kedumba River and Katoomba Falls, as the swamps regulate water flow.

The project will generate a large amount of additional vehicular traffic in what is a relatively quiet area, on single lane two-way roads.

There is also a concern about bushfire. Although not actually zoned as bushfire risk, the actual site is very close to extensive bushland,and there have been bushfires in that area relatively recently. A scenario of confusion and chaos, where a bushfire is raging in the area and emergency evacuation is required, along with fire trucks trying to access the area, could readily occur.

Finally, the project is completely out of character with the Blue Mountains and its environmental values. The tourism economy is very important to the upper Blue Mountains, but projects like this, that reduce the Mountains to another strip of characterless concrete, significantly detract from the special character of the area. This project is anti ecotourism and environmental, because of its size, design and likely degrading environmental impacts.

Refer to attached document.

Before I start, the Major Projects site incorrectly states my address is in North Parramatta, despite multiple attempts to change it to Leura where I have lived for the last four years. I also lived in the Blue Mountains between 1982 and 1990.
There are many reasons why I consider this application inappropriate, almost too many to list here. These are my main objections:
1. The area is not zoned for the scale of this proposal for good reasons. It is far too large for an area that sits on the edge of a fragile and heritage ecosystem. It will swamp the other housing nearby, create blocked sight lines and shadows, and completely change the local environment.
2. The risk of bushfire is significant, especially as the climate changes. There are limited evacuation routes which already are insufficient for the population currently living in the area. Emergency response teams trying to get to fires would have difficulty accessing the area as people flee. In other words,this proposed high density accommodation threatens the safety and well being of people who already live there.
3. As noted above, the roads in the area are not built for the level of traffic this development would bring. They are narrow with blind corners and are difficult to navigate expecially in fog or rain, both of which occur frequently up here.
4. The Upper Mountains already struggles with reliable infrastructure such as power, water and sewerage. The scale of this proposal would have a significant impact on that. On top of that, the site is isurrounded by a UNESCO World Heritage park and is completely inappropriate both visually and in terms of potential destruction of habitat and beauty. The water runoff from a development like this would also contain pollutants which will destroy the nearby ecosystems and ultimately make their way into the water supply for Sydney.
The BMCC has spent years working hard in consultation with a variety of experts and with the people who live here to set up a Local Environment Plan under which this proposal could not proceed. Allowing this development flies in the face of all that work and expertise, and ignores the wishes of the people of the Blue Mountains who will have to live with the consequences of this awful proposal.