This type of development is not suitable for the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains is a unique ecosystem. We have a responsibility to look after it. Once it is gone, we can't get it back. It brings a lot of international dollars to Australia through tourism. The housing rule change should apply to urban areas not ecosystem like the Blue Mountains. I believe it will diminish the character of Katoomba, including views towards the escarpment, increase pressure on local infrastructure, particularly roads, worsen traffic congestion, including evacuation routes during emergencies, increase bushfire risk, particularly during evacuation and degrade the natural environment, including sensitive and protected ecosystems. I am also concerned about it setting a dangerous planning precedent for the entire Blue Mountains. I believe the Blue Mountains LGA should be explicitly excluded from the HDA and SSD pathways.

How is rezoning changing the fire danger? You are unfairly changing the rules to fit your agenda.

I object to this project because it is located in a bushfire prone area; it is too large and bulky; the residents would have serious difficulty in evacuating the site in times of bushfires; it will have adverse environmental impacts. I oppose the use of the Housing Delivery Authority pathway in the Blue Mountains. I request that the Blue Mountains LGA be exempt from the HDA pathway. The site is zoned R3 with a max height of 8m. The proposed building is four storeys, far too huge. Hundreds of additional cars would use the narrow roads. Infrastructure is a near capacity and cannot support the population increases. Katoomba has a distinct character and this proposal is incompatible with landscape and cultural identity. Thank you for giving consideration to my submission.

If you have any friends who are construction managers, ask them privately and they will tell you the quality of medium-sized buildings being made now across the board is terrible. They can tell you anything publicly, but this building will be lucky to have a 100 year lifespan before it needs demolishing. That's if it doesn't develop cracks and become unusable before then. Katoomba doesn't need a huge shonky thing plomped in the middle of the suburbs, where everyone will have to drive to the train station and clog up Narrowneck road. I'm not against Katoomba having more people, but build it OUT OF BRICK, and put it walking distance from the station. Let's make something we're proud of, not a piece of engineered obsolescence in the wrong place. The character of Katoomba is a vibrant semi-urban centre, with quiet suburbs. Let's put more good quality stuff near the middle of town, not make weird ghettos in the corners. Obviously housing affordability is an issue, but I think any quick fixes should be made with policy (investment rules / AirBnb / negative gearing / pull some other sensible zoning levers), not by quickly building white elephants in the wrong place.

To Whom It May Concern,

I attach an objection by Wilderness Australia to SSD-86456706 for your consideration and review.

Sincerely

Keith Muir

To whom it may concern,
I am writing to object to the proposed State Significant Development at 142–150 Narrow Neck Road, Katoomba.
This proposal is fundamentally inconsistent with the environmental, cultural, and planning context of the Blue Mountains. The scale and height of the development, significantly exceeding existing controls under the Blue Mountains Local Environmental Plan 2015, would introduce a form of urban density that is out of character with the area.
The site raises a number of serious concerns:
It is located in a bushfire-prone area with known evacuation constraints, raising safety risks for both future residents and the broader community.
Its proximity to the escarpment and World Heritage Area means the development will have a substantial visual impact on a landscape of recognised global significance.
The location, outside the Katoomba town centre with limited public transport and services, raises questions about the appropriateness of such density in this area.
There is potential for downstream environmental impacts given the site's position within the Katoomba Creek Falls catchment.
More broadly, approving a development of this scale in such a sensitive location signals a troubling disregard for the unique environmental and heritage values of the Blue Mountains. It risks setting a precedent that prioritises short-term development outcomes over long-term stewardship of a World Heritage landscape according to relevant conventions.

I urge the NSW Government to reject this proposal or, at a minimum, require substantial reconsideration and redesign to align with local planning controls and environmental constraints.

Yours sincerely,

I have 4 primary objections to the planning proposal:
1) Narrowneck Road is well within a dangerous bushfire zone with difficult access and one road in and out. To facilitate hundreds more people to live within that zone is courting disaster. The proposal far exceeds the limits set in the Local Environmental Plan (LEP) and Development Control Plan (DCP), guidelines that were set decades ago to protect the unique environment of the upper Blue Mountains and to protect existing residents from bushfire risk.
2) The proposal will damage the fragile soils and ecology of the area, causing significant stormwater run-off and damaging ecosystems.
3) There is no allowance within the proposal for low cost and social housing. A small fraction is earmarked as affordable housing, and even that would remain unaffordable to many low income families in this area. Katoomba is a low income area that is desperately short of accommodation for low income households. This is the wrong solution in the wrong place.
4) Tourism is vital to the area's local economy. Tourists visit Katoomba because of its outstanding natural environment and village character. This proposal, and others like it that will inevitably follow if this one is approved, will irreversibly damage the local economy.

Infrastructure in the area of the proposed development is already at capacity, ingress and egress to the town via the great Western highway is already severely compromised particularly during peak periods, this impacts travel for those using the GWH to travel between the Greater Sydney area and the Central West. The development is also of a size and design that is out or character for an area whose economy is reliant on nature and the natural landscape